Skip to content
2000
Volume 2, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 1573-3947
  • E-ISSN: 1875-6301

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death from gynecological cancer. Although most patients will experience remission of their disease, following cytoreductive surgery and platinum (+ paclitaxel) chemotherapy, relapse will occur in about 80% of cases with FIGO stages III and IV disease. Treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer represents a challenge. Cure is rare but long-term survival can be achieved in a significant proportion of patients. Treatment-free interval after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy determines sensitivity to platinum rechallenge. Nevertheless, other factors, such as symptoms, tumor bulk, ECOG PS and patients' preferences can also aid decision making in this setting. The recent ICON4/AGO and GCIC studies showed that combination of carboplatin with paclitaxel or gemcitabine are superior to carboplatin monotherapy in patients with platinum-sensitive disease, but at the expense of additional toxicity. Platinum refractory disease is associated with poor prognosis and monotherapy with a non-platinum agent, such as liposomal doxorubicin, topotecan or a taxane is recommended. Biological agents targeting various components on cancer cells, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), growth factors and stromal elements, are under investigation as adjuncts to chemotherapy. In addition, selected patients may benefit from surgery at recurrence, but they represent the minority of patients with relapsed ovarian cancer.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/cctr/10.2174/157339406777934726
2006-08-01
2025-06-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/cctr/10.2174/157339406777934726
Loading

  • Article Type:
    Research Article
Keyword(s): chemotherapy; Ovarian carcinoma; relapse; surgery
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test