Abstract
Background. Bowel perforation is a rare complication of chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer, and may result from tumor necrosis within involved bowel or as a function of the mechanism of the chemotherapeutic agent itself. Case. We present a case of a 71-year-old woman who experienced a spontaneous bowel perforation after a single cycle of carboplatin and paclitaxel during neoadjuvant treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. This is, to our knowledge, the first reported case of a gastrointestinal perforation with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. The clinical circumstances were highly suggestive of a tumor lysis mechanism for the perforation. Conclusion. Bowel perforation can occur as a direct consequence of cytotoxic neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. This potential serious complication may be worthy of consideration when deciding between neoadjuvant chemotherapy and primary surgical management.
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