New Research Suggests a Way to Lower Risk of Bowel Blockages in Ovarian Cancer
- 23 hours ago
- 2 min read
Falla-Zuniga LF, Sardi A, King MC, Lopez-Ramirez F, Kovalik V, Iugai S, Diaz-Montes T, Gushchin V. Small bowel obstruction and ovarian cancer: insights from a propensity-score matched study in patients with and without hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy after cytoreductive surgery. World J Surg Oncol. 2025 Aug 26;23(1):318. doi: 10.1186/s12957-025-03968-y. PMID: 40859247; PMCID: PMC12382003.
What was this study about?
People with advanced ovarian cancer sometimes develop a small bowel obstruction (SBO)—a blockage in the intestines. This can cause severe symptoms, hospital stays, and can be life-threatening.
This study looked at whether adding a treatment called HIPECÂ (heated chemotherapy delivered directly into the abdomen during surgery) could help reduce the risk of these blockages.
What treatments were compared?
Researchers compared two groups of patients with advanced ovarian cancer:
Surgery alone (CRS) – removing as much visible cancer as possible
Surgery + HIPEC (CRS/HIPEC) – surgery plus heated chemotherapy in the abdomen
What did the study find?
Fewer bowel blockages: About 24%Â of patients who had HIPEC developed a blockage, compared with 42%Â who had surgery alone.
Blockages happened later: Patients who received HIPEC went longer without developing a blockage.
Longer time without obstruction or death: Patients who had HIPEC had about 43 months before a blockage or death, compared to 20 months for surgery alone.
Similar safety: Serious complications after surgery were similar in both groups, even though HIPEC patients often had more extensive surgery.
Better survival after a blockage (trend): Patients who had HIPEC were more likely to be alive one year after a blockage, though this result was not statistically certain.
What does this mean for patients?
Adding HIPEC to ovarian cancer surgery may:
Lower the chance of developing a bowel blockage
Delay when a blockage happens
Help patients live longer without major complications from obstruction
This suggests HIPEC may improve long-term control of cancer in the abdomen.
What are the limitations?
This was a retrospective study (looking back at past patients), not a randomized trial
It included a small number of patients from one center
More research is needed to confirm these results
Bottom line
For some patients with advanced ovarian cancer, adding HIPEC during surgery may reduce the risk of serious bowel blockages and improve outcomes—but it’s not yet a standard approach for everyone.