Improving ovarian cancer management through centralized surgery: experience gained by the UNGO after one year of collaboration and obtaining ESGO accreditation in 2019

Mathieu Luyckx (1,6,8), Mathieu Jouret (1,2), Frédéric Grandjean (1,3), Marc Waterkeyn (1,4), Jean-Paul Van Gossum (1,5), Nathanael Dubois (1,5), Jean-François Baurain (7,8) Jean-Luc Squifflet (1,8) Published in the journal : October 2019 Category : Gynécologie et Andrologie

Ovarian cancer treatment combines optimal surgery with platine-based chemotherapy. The quality of the surgery, which is the cornerstone of the treatment, must be complete (no residual disease after the procedure). Owing to its central role, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) has published objective criteria to evaluate the quality of surgery quality, providing gynecological oncology centers with the opportunity to be accredited for ovarian cancer surgery. In 2016, a centralisation network for ovarian cancer surgery was formed. Like others Belgian networks for rare cancers, this network primarily aimed to increase the experience of surgeons within the reference centers by increasing the number of cases, yet still enabling surgeons in other centres to perform oncological pelvic surgery and become referents of their respective centres. The UNGO (UCL Network of Gynaecological Oncology) centralizes all surgeries in the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (CUSL), with the remaing of the treatment and check-ups staying under the responsibility of collaborating centers. Five hospitals have been involved: CUSL Brussels, CHWaPi Tournai, Saint-Michel, Sainte-Elisabeth, and Saint-Jean in Brussels. After a 1-year collaboration, 40 patients underwent ovarian cancer surgery within the UNGO, and 91% of them underwent complete surgery with no residual disease (R0). The results of this first year of collaboration were deemed satisfying and we will thus continue on this path. We have thus demonstrated that centralization of ovarian cancer surgery is possible in Belgium. In 2019 the ESGO awarded for 5 years an accreditation to UNGO network and CUSL for cancer surgery advanced ovarian. Two additional centers since joined the UNGO: CSPO and Roccourt.

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