In 2023, an estimated 19,710 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 13,270 patients will die from this disease in the United States [1]. Due to a lack of effective screening modalities, patients often present with advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. The upfront management of advanced-stage disease involves cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy [[2], [3], [4]]. Primary cytoreductive surgery (PCS) and interval cytoreductive surgery (ICS) are often complex and lengthy and can involve multiple organ systems and bowel resections [[5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]]. Intestinal resections are frequently necessary to achieve a complete gross resection (CGR) or near-complete resection of visible disease at the time of PCS [13]. Although less often needed after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, intestinal resections are also performed at the time of ICS [[14], [15], [16]].

Anastomotic leak (AL) is the most concerning and morbid complication of intestinal resection [10,12,13]. A retrospective study by Grimm et al. demonstrated an independent association of AL with worse survival outcomes [10]. In theory, the morbidity and complications resulting from AL could delay initiation of postoperative chemotherapy and portend worse oncologic outcomes.

There are limited studies regarding the impact of postoperative morbidity on patients with advanced ovarian cancer undergoing PCS or ICS with intestinal surgery [11,[17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22]]. Our objective was to assess the impact of short-term postoperative complications and morbidity on oncologic outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer undergoing PCS or ICS with at least one intestinal resection.