In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez is joined by Dr. Robert Bristow, Prof. Christina Fotopoulou, and Dr. Myong Cheol Lim to discuss Secondary Cytoreductive Surgery in Ovarian Cancer. Dr. Bristow is Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. His clinical expertise and research interests focus on the surgical management of advanced-stage and recurrent ovarian cancer. Prof. Christina Fotopoulou has served as the Chair of Gynaecological Cancer Surgery at the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, UK. She has served as an elected ESGO council member and Chair of the ESGO guidelines committee. Dr. Myong Cheol Lim is a gynecologic oncologist, working for National Cancer Center Korea. He is fully dedicated to clinical research, including cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC for the management of ovarian cancer.

Highlights:
- This large meta-analysis on the value of secondary debulking showed that both complete as well as optimal cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer relapse significantly increased patients' overall survival.
- Median overall survival of a patients cohort increased by 9% and 7% when the complete and optimal cytoreductive rates increased by 10%, respectively, even after adjusting of other well established prognostic factors.
- Patients with ovarian cancer relapse should be evaluated for their eligibility for secondary debulking surgery in an effort to improve their survival.