Ovarian cancer continues to have an overall poor prognosis compared to other genital cancers; this is primarily due to the advanced stage at presentation. Several advances have transformed the surgical approach to ovarian cancer management in the past 2 decades. For the vast majority of patients considered inoperable in the past, a wide range of surgical pro­cedures are available today; these require experience, fine judgment and aggressiveness on the part of the surgeon. Although surgical cytoreduction is the main modality of therapy today, the importance of adjuvant chemotherapy should not be overlooked. Only a combination of these two modalities will help improve survival in these cases. Individualised management should be the objective to obtain cure in some and palliation in others with advanced disease. Ovarian cancer is the fourth common cancer among Malaysian women and is a leading cause of death from gynecological cancer. Epithelial ovarian cancer comprises 8 to 85% of all ovarian tumors. The exact etiology is unknown; increasing parity, use of oral contraceptive pills and breastfeeding appear to have a protective effect, whilst low parity/sub-fertility, use of fertility drugs and genetic factors increase the risk. Ovarian carcinoma is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer in the US. In Malaysia, ovarian carcinoma is the fourth most common cancer among women in Peninsular Malaysia in the year 2002 (after cancers of the breast, cervix uteri and colon) and constituted 5% of total female cancers. It is a leading cause of death from gyanecological cancer because it is difficult to detect before it disseminates; approximately 70% of cases present in advanced stage.