BACKGROUND: Approximately 70% of women diagnosed with advanced-stage ovarian 
cancer experience disease recurrence. Survival data were compared between a 
group of recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (rEOC) patients treated by 
cytoreduction and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and a 
matched group of rEOC patients treated by systemic chemotherapy only (without 
surgery). Treatment outcome in relation to the patients' BRCA status was 
compared.
METHODS: Twenty-seven rEOC patients treated by cytoreduction and HIPEC were 
selected from our database and matched (1:3) with 84 rEOC patients treated with 
chemotherapy only. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in 
the two groups were analyzed and compared.
RESULTS: The estimated median PFS was 15 months in the HIPEC group and 6 months 
in the systemic chemotherapy group (P = 0.001). The median OS following HIPEC 
treatment has not been reached, since more than 70% of the women were alive at 
the time of analysis. The 5-year survival rate was significantly higher in the 
HIPEC treated patients compared to that of the controls (79% vs. 45%, 
P = 0.016). BRCA status did not affect PFS.
CONCLUSIONS: HIPEC after surgical cytoreduction in patients with rEOC appears 
beneficial compared to systemic chemotherapy treatment alone. The benefit is 
even greater in BRCA mutation carriers.