Effectiveness of Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Associated with Cytoreductive Surgery in the Treatment of Advanced Ovarian Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: The use of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as a treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer remains controversial. Our study aims to analyze the overall survival and disease-free survival for the use of HIPEC as a treatment for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out using PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov. A total of six studies were used, comprising a total of 674 patients. Results: The results of our meta-analysis of all studies analyzed together (observational and randomized controlled trials (RCT)) did not achieve significant results. Contrary to the OS (HR = 0.56, 95% IC = 0.33–0.95, p = 0.03) and DFS (HR = 0.61, 95% IC = 0.43–0.86, p < 0.01) of the RCT analyzed separately, a clear impact on survival was suggested. The subgroup analysis showed that studies making use of higher temperatures (≥42 °C) for a shorter period of time (≤60 min) achieved better results for both OS and DFS, as well as the use of cisplatin as the form of chemotherapy in HIPEC. Moreover, the use of HIPEC did not increase high-grade complications. Conclusions: The addition of HIPEC to cytoreductive surgery demonstrates an improvement in OS and DFS for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer in advanced stages, without an increase in the number of complications. The use of cisplatin as chemotherapy in HIPEC obtained better results.