Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Optimal first-line treatment in ovarian cancer.


Optimal first-line treatment in ovarian cancer.


Sept 2012

Source

UCL Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, London, UK.

Abstract


Treatment of ovarian cancer remains challenging despite the high complete response rate seen after maximal surgical debulking surgery and platinum-combination chemotherapy. as most patients will relapse and eventually succumb to ovarian cancer, new strategies are urgently required to improve survival. a platinum-taxane combination has been the cornerstone of treatment for >15 years. Better use of these drugs is being explored through scheduling studies, and dose-dense or intraperitoneal (IP) therapies. 

Further improvements in treatment will most likely come from the integration of optimal chemotherapy with one or more of the hundreds of molecular-targeted agents that could be active in ovarian cancer. The greatest experience has been with anti-angiogenic agents. Two large phase III trials in first-line ovarian cancer have demonstrated a positive effect of bevacizumab when administered concurrently with chemotherapy and then as a maintenance treatment. In this review, we discuss the existing treatments for ovarian cancer and highlight areas of recent progress.

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