Beyond the surgeon's eye: towards a molecular definition of complete cytoreduction in advanced ovarian cancer

The volume of residual disease after cytoreductive surgery is the main prognostic factor that the surgical team can influence in advanced ovarian cancer. In the combined analysis of three randomized trials of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gynaekologische Onkologie – Ovarian Cancer Study Group (AGO-OVAR) and the Groupe d'Investigateurs Nationaux pour l'Etude des Cancers Ovariens et du sein (GINECO), median overall survival reached 99.1 months in patients without visible residual disease, compared with 36.2 months with residual disease of 1–10 mm and 29.6 months with residual disease larger than 10 mm [1].