Quality control in ovarian cancer surgery.

This study is a literature review of papers in the English language dealing with quality control for ovarian cancer surgery. Quality control in surgery has long been a neglected area of medicine. Initial attempts were limited to cardiac surgery, but only very recently has there been any attempt to look at quality control in ovarian cancer surgery. Investigators from Hesse, Germany were the first to document the surgical quality of patients with ovarian cancer. Subsequently, investigators in the United States and other European countries have demonstrated that patients treated by gynaecological oncologists in large-volume tertiary institutions had the best outcomes. The Gynaecological Cancer Group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer has developed a series of process quality indicators for ovarian cancer surgery that could be used by surgeons or units to audit and improve their practice. These and or other initiatives are important, because pressure is coming from consumers, government, health care insurers and medical risk insurers for surgeons and hospitals to provide transparent patient outcome data. If the profession does not institute adequate internal regulation of the quality of ovarian cancer surgery, regulation is likely to be imposed by government.