Malika Kengsakul

Strategic approaches for global cervical cancer elimination: An update review and call for national action

AbstractCervical cancer remains a major health burden, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries, despite being one of the most preventable cancers. WHO's 90–70–90 targets aim to eliminate cervical cancer globally by 2030. These targets include 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15 years, 70% of women screened using a high‐performance test by the age of 35 years and again by 45 years, and 90% of women with cervical disease receiving appropriate treatment. Achieving these goals requires coordinated national efforts to strengthen health systems, ensure equitable access to care, and integrate cervical cancer control into broader health policies. This review outlines key strategic approaches, including the transition from conventional screening methods to HPV‐based screening, the adoption of innovative triage techniques, the implementation of single‐dose HPV vaccination, and the integration of primary treatment with palliative care. The strategy places strong emphasis on addressing health inequities, enhancing monitoring systems, and fostering partnerships between governments, non‐governmental organizations, and the private sector. With concerted global and national action, the elimination of cervical cancer is not only a possibility but an imminent reality.

Clinical validation and comparison of the Comprehensive Complication Index and Clavien-Dindo classification in predicting post-operative outcomes after cytoreductive surgery in advanced ovarian cancer

The Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) is an instrument used to measure cumulative post-operative complications. Our study aimed to validate the CCI after cytoreductive surgery for primary advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer, and to compare its diagnostic performance with the Clavien-Dindo classification. This prospective cohort study classified post-operative complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification and the CCI. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between both classifications with intensive care unit admission, prolonged length of hospital stay (defined as stays longer than the 75th percentile of all stays in this study), 30-day readmission, and time to initiating chemotherapy after surgery >42 days. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) were used to assess the discriminative performance of each classification. A total of 300 patients were included in the analysis. Most patients (n=255, 85%) underwent interval cytoreductive surgery. Complete cytoreduction was achieved in 235 (78%) patients. Overall, 30-day post-operative complications classified by the Clavien-Dindo classification occurred in 147 (49%) patients. Severe complications (grade ≥3a) occurred in 51 (17%) patients. Approximately 30% (n=82) had multiple complications. The CCI showed an excellent correlation with the Clavien-Dindo classification ( Both the Clavien-Dindo classification and CCI showed significant associations with all surgical outcomes. However, the cumulative complications score of the CCI demonstrated a more superior discriminative performance than the Clavien-Dindo classification for prolonged length of hospital stay in advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer.

Factors predicting postoperative morbidity after cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Advances in ovarian cancer cytoreductive surgery have enabled more extensive procedures to achieve maximal cytoreduction but with a consequent increase in postoperative morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors for postoperative morbidity after extensive cytoreductive surgery for primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), particularly those which may be modifiable. Electronic databases were searched. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects models. Fifteen relevant studies, involving 15,325 ovarian cancer patients, were included in this review. Severe 30-day postoperative complications occurred in 2,357 (15.4%) patients. The postoperative mortality rate was 1.92%. Meta-analysis demonstrated that patient with following risk factors; age (p0 (p=0.001), albumin level <3.5 g/dL (p<0.001), presence of ascites on CT scan (p=0.013), stage IV disease (p<0.001) and extensive surgical procedure (p<0.001) has a significantly increase risk of developing postoperative complications. Surgical procedures including peritonectomy (p=0.012), splenectomy (p<0.001) and colon surgery (p<0.001) were significant predictors for postoperative complications. Moreover, we found that patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery (NACT-IDS) had a lower risk of developing severe complications compared to those who underwent primary debulking surgery (PDS) (p<0.001). Our study demonstrated that patient performance status and hypoalbuminemia were the only significant adjustable preoperative risk factors associated with postoperative complications. Patients who underwent NACT-IDS had a lower risk of developing severe complications compared to PDS. International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) Identifier: CRD42021282770.

Substantial discordance between structured pre-operative computed tomography (CT) reports and intraoperative findings in advanced ovarian cancer cytoreductive surgery, affecting treatment decisions

The aim of this study was to assess the agreement and diagnostic accuracy of structured preoperative computed tomography (CT) findings compared to intraoperative findings in advanced ovarian cancer patients undergoing primary or interval cytoreductive surgery. Patients with CT scans suggesting advanced ovarian cancer were enrolled in the study. Agreement between CT reports, reviewed using European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) criteria, and surgical findings were evaluated with the kappa coefficient. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for each radiologic feature. From February 2018 to September 2020, 258 patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIIB-IV epithelial ovarian cancer were enrolled. Agreement between ESUR-reviewed CT reports and surgical findings was slight to fair (kappa = 0.115-0.352). The most common CT findings were peritoneal carcinomatosis, omental metastases, and bowel involvement. Sensitivity and specificity of peritoneal carcinomatosis were 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.94) and 0.19 (95% CI: 0.10-0.31), with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.55 (95% CI: 0.46-0.64). Omental metastases had a sensitivity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.87-0.95) and specificity of 0.27 (95% CI: 0.16-0.40) with an AUC of 0.59 (95% CI: 0.52-0.65). Bowel involvement showed a sensitivity of 0.61 (95% CI: 0.54-0.67), specificity of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.58-0.83), and AUC of 0.66 (95% CI: 0.58-0.74). This study demonstrates limited concordance between ESUR-reviewed CT reports and intraoperative findings in advanced ovarian cancer. Even when interpreted by expert radiologists, CT imaging alone may inadequately reflect disease burden. These findings emphasise the ongoing challenges of imaging-based surgical planning and support the need for further development and validation of more accurate preoperative assessment tools.