Factors associated with postoperative ileus after surgery for epithelial ovarian cancer: a retrospective case-control study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Cytoreductive surgery is the main treatment for ovarian cancer (OC), aiming to remove as much tumor as possible. However, being a complex surgery, it increases the risk of complications. Postoperative ileus (POI) is a severe complication after abdominal and pelvic surgery and disturbs the recovery after surgery. This study aims to investigate the incidence and factors associated with POI in epithelial OC patients following gynecologic surgeries. In this retrospective case-control study, a total of 4017 patients who underwent surgery for epithelial OC between January 2018 and May 2025 at two tertiary hospitals were identified. Among them, 68 patients developed POI. These cases were matched by hospital site and calendar year of surgery at a 4:1 ratio with 272 non-POI controls. The epithelial OC patients in the POI group had longer total hospitalization days than those in the non-POI group. Preoperative anemia was associated with higher odds of POI. Higher surgical complexity unexpectedly correlated with lower POI odds, but this exploratory finding requires prospective validation and should not be interpreted as causal. In exploratory subgroup analyses, intestinal resection was associated with POI in the laparoscopic subgroup, while postoperative intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) showed an association with lower POI odds in the laparotomy subgroup. These findings identify several exploratory perioperative associations with POI that warrant validation in larger prospective cohorts.
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Fang Fang, Xiao Wang, Yuchen Lin, Ke Ni, Yi Shen
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
OpenAlex ID: W7223231272