Upcoming trials

Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS)

Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) is used to directly inspect the pleural cavity if there is a suspicion of cancerous involvement. In ovarian cancer, the pleural is a potential site of involvement. If the pleura is widely involved, management would change. If the pleura is disease-free, patients undergo primary abdominal surgery followed by six courses of chemotherapy. If the pleura is heavily involved, we prefer to start with chemotherapy first and operate later. Unfortunately, current imaging methods do not allow to accurately predict pleural involvement. Also, aspiration of fluid from the pleural cavity is false-negative in more than 25% of cases. We propose a prospective randomised study on 60 patients comparing the prevalence of pleural involvement of ovarian cancer as detected by VATS or PET scan. Provided adequate funding, this study could start in January 2010 in six QCGC-accredited gynaecological cancer units from Brisbane.