The feasibility of folate receptor alpha- and HER2-targeted intraoperative fluorescence-guided cytoreductive surgery in women with epithelial ovarian cancer: A systematic review

Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is often diagnosed late, with a 5-year relative survival of 30.2% for patients with metastatic disease. Residual disease following cytoreductive surgery is an important predictor for poor survival. EOC is characterized by diffuse peritoneal metastases and depositions of small size, challenging a complete resection. Targeted fluorescence imaging is a technique to enhance tumor visualization and can be performed intraoperatively. Folate receptor alpha (FRα) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are overexpressed in EOC in 80% and 20% of the cases, respectively, and have been previously studied as a target for intraoperative imaging. Objective: To systematically review the literature on the feasibility of FRα and HER2 targeted fluorescence-guided cytoreductive surgery (FGCS) in women with EOC. Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched for human and animal studies on FGCS targeting either HER2 or FRα in either women with EOC or animal models of EOC. Risk of bias and methodological quality were assessed with the SYRCLE and MINORS tool, respectively. Results: All animal studies targeting either FRα or HER2 were able to detect tumor deposits using intraoperative fluorescence imaging. One animal study targeting HER2 compared conventional cytoreductive surgery (CCS) to FGCS and concluded that FGCS, either without or following CCS, resulted in statistically significant less residual disease compared to CCS alone. Human studies on FGCS showed an increased detection rate of tumor deposits. True positives ranged between 75%–77% and false positives between 10%–25%. Lymph nodes were the main source of false positive results. Sensitivity was 85.9%, though only reported by one human study. Conclusion: FGCS targeting either HER2 or FRα appears to be feasible in both EOC animal models and patients with EOC. FGCS is a promising technique, but further research is warranted to validate these results and particularly study the survival benefit.