Preparing for Ovarian Cancer Surgery

Gynecologic oncologists have additional specialized training beyond general surgery and obstetrics and gynecologytypically three to four years of additional surgical experience.

Choosing Your Surgeon
Your general gynecologist, primary care physician, or oncologist may be able to refer you to a gynecologic oncologist in your area. Or you can do some homework on your own by compiling a list of potential surgeons, finding out who's covered by your insurance, and who has operating privileges at highly regarded hospitals or cancer centers in your area. You can also ask people you know who had similar procedures and were happy with the outcome.

Visit the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) to check a surgeon's credentials and training, and learn if they are licensed in your state. State medical boards also have doctor profiles that include board certifications, board actions, criminal convictions, and medical malpractice claims.

To find out whether the surgeon is board certified or eligible in a particular specialty, check with the American Board of Medical Specialties. "Board certified" means a physician has undergone lengthy training in a specialty and passed a stringent exam. Generally speaking, the more a surgeon performs a particular operation, the better their technique becomes.

When you meet with a prospective surgeon, ask them:

• How many cases like mine have you performed surgery on? What are the complication rates for your patients?
• What type of surgery are you planning for my procedure?
• Do you have training in the specific type of surgery–open versus laparoscopic, regular laparoscopic or robotic–that I need?

Ask About Enhanced Recovery After Surgery  
Dr. Fader says that the good news for women is that the way gynecological surgery is performed now has been modernized to be easier on a woman's body and lead to a quicker recovery. "How we perform surgery now takes into account not just the surgery itself, but treating the entire woman as a person, and as someone going through a treatment that may be very stressful on the body. We want to minimize that stress as much as possible."

Surgeons now consult guidelines known as ERASEnhanced Recovery After Surgeryfor steps to take before, during, and after an operation in order to give women the best chance of successful surgery and an easier recovery. "ERAS is a wonderful program which really enhances a woman's recovery," says Dr. Fader

Follow Guidelines for Eating and Drinking
ERAS guidelines begin preoperatively, and have modernized the instructions that women were given to follow before the surgery. "We used to tell women not to eat or drink anything after midnight the day before their procedure, and that's very difficult," says Dr. Fader. She says that you can think of ovarian cancer surgery and treatment like training to run a marathon. "And you have to prepare your body for that marathon, and that stress. And if you go into that marathon, or that surgery, starving and completely dehydrated, with your electrolytes out of whack, that's a very stressful state for your body."

Now many surgeons allow women to eat up to six or eight hours before surgery, and let them drink up to two hours beforehand. "They can drink things like water or electrolyte-rich solutions like Gatorade or Propel Water," says Dr. Fader. "And that really decreases the dehydration and the electrolyte abnormalities and the potential acute kidney damage that can occur from dehydration, because these surgeries can be very long."

The most important part of preparing for surgery is choosing a specialist who's extremely experienced in the procedure you need, and who follows current ERAS guidelines to make your surgery as easy as possible for your body to recover from. In short, finding a surgeon who you believe is able to take the best care of you.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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