Nacoti M, Colombetti E, Spada MS, Ceresoli M, Ansaloni L, Marchesi G, Lorini L, Corbella D, Coccolini F. Peritoneal carcinomatosis from advanced ovarian cancer: To treat or not to treat ethical issues suggested by a case study. World J Obstet Gynecol 2014; 3(1): 14-20 [DOI: 10.5317/wjog.v3.i1.14]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Mirco Nacoti, MD, Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS, 1, 24127 Bergamo, Italy. mnacoti@hpg23.it
Research Domain of This Article
Medical Ethics
Article-Type of This Article
Medical Ethics
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Obstet Gynecol. Feb 10, 2014; 3(1): 14-20 Published online Feb 10, 2014. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v3.i1.14
Peritoneal carcinomatosis from advanced ovarian cancer: To treat or not to treat ethical issues suggested by a case study
Mirco Nacoti, Elena Colombetti, Maria Simonetta Spada, Marco Ceresoli, Luca Ansaloni, Gianmariano Marchesi, Luca Lorini, Davide Corbella, Federico Coccolini
Mirco Nacoti, Gianmariano Marchesi, Luca Lorini, Davide Corbella, Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, 24127 Bergamo, Italy
Elena Colombetti, Centre for Bioethics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, 20121 Milan, Italy
Maria Simonetta Spada, Clinical Psychology Unit, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, 24127 Bergamo, Italy
Marco Ceresoli, Luca Ansaloni, Federico Coccolini, General Surgery Departement, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, 24127 Bergamo, Italy
Author contributions: Nacoti M was the promoter of the bioethical conference and wrote the preliminary version of this manuscript; Colombetti E was the bioethical philosopher who conducted the conference, gave advice upon the ethical issues raised by the case and revised the discussion; Spada MS performed the psychological evaluation and wrote all the part inherent the psychological profile; Ceresoli M, Ansaloni L and Coccolini F wrote the part of the manuscript inherent the surgical procedure and presented the update upon the indication of HIPEC in advanced ovarian cancer; Ceresoli M wrote the case presentation; Marchesi G and Lorini L were committed in organising the bioethical conference and took part in the revision of the discussion; Corbella D made the post-editing of the paper and revised the whole paper; all the authors red and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to: Mirco Nacoti, MD, Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS, 1, 24127 Bergamo, Italy. mnacoti@hpg23.it
Telephone: +39-035-2675110 Fax: +39-035-2674836
Received: July 16, 2013 Revised: October 20, 2013 Accepted: November 2, 2013 Published online: February 10, 2014 Processing time: 215 Days and 10.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: This paper addresses the topic of “treating the untreatable”. Advanced epithelial ovarian cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis is not susceptible of definitive treatment. Anyway we can gain time. To achieve this goal the patient undergoes extensive treatment that has a significant burden of morbidity and mortality with decrease in quality of life in the postoperative period. This manuscript is the report of the bioethical conference held in our institution between the multidisciplinary team that take care of these complex patients and the bioethical philosopher and the clinical psychologist. Aim of the conference was to seek for bioethical counsel in this cohort of patients highlighting the relationship of medical counseling, terminal state, the patient’s individual preferences, psychological evaluation and health related quality of life. The case is evaluated by a patient-centered approach through the platform World Health Organization-International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health that is presented into the article text.
