Primary debulking surgery for advanced ovarian cancer: Are you a believer or a dissenter?

•The goal of primary debulking surgery should be the complete resection of all macroscopic disease.•Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has an emerging role in the treatment of selected patients.•Preoperative innovations under investigation are aimed at better triaging women to upfront surgery or chemotherapy.

Nothing stirs the collective soul of primary debulking surgery (PDS) advocates like hard data suggesting equivalent outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). These opposing views have even metaphorically come to blows at the highly entertaining “SGO Fight Night” that took place during the 2008 Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer, replete with teams supporting each of the would-be gladiators. Decades of retrospective data supporting the clinical benefit of PDS has recently been challenged by the publication in 2010 of a randomized phase III trial conducted in Europe supporting the clinical efficacy of NAC. Naturally, a firestorm of criticism among believers ensued, yet practice patterns within the United States did slowly change, suggesting an emerging block of dissenters. Another randomized phase III European trial, as presented in abstract form in 2013, showed similar findings. Few other topics within the field of gynecologic oncology have participants so entrenched in the “corners” of their existing practice patterns. This review attempts to consolidate the current evidence supporting both sides so that the patient can be declared the winner.