Preoperative predictors of delay in initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients undergoing primary debulking surgery for ovarian cancer.

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify preoperative characteristics of patients that experience a delay in initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy after primary debulking surgery for ovarian cancer.
Materials/methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients with Stage II to IV high-grade epithelial ovarian, tubal, and peritoneal carcinoma who underwent primary debulking surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy from 2005 to 2013. Patients were divided into 2 groups: Control (those who received their first cycle of chemotherapy within 6weeks of debulking surgery) vs. chemotherapy delay (those who received their first cycle of chemotherapy at an interval >6weeks from primary debulking surgery). Relevant clinical variables and survival outcomes were compared between the 2 groups using standard statistical methods.
Results: A total of 221 patients were included in the analyses - 169 (76.5%) were in the control group and 52 (23.5%) were in the chemo delay group. On multi-variate analysis, risk factors that were significantly associated with a delay in initiation in chemotherapy included: age >65, albumin <3.5, and high age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Delay in chemotherapy initiation was associated with a shorter progression-free (p=0.014) but not overall survival (p=0.19).
Conclusions: Delay in initiation of chemotherapy affected 23.5% of patients in our study population. Easily identifiable risk factors for chemotherapy delay exist that can help us pre-operatively identify patients for which neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be a better treatment option. Further study into prospective modeling with these identified risk factors is warranted.
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