Editorial: Advances in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma has a dismal prognosis. Notwithstanding the good initial response to primary therapy, 75% of the patients with advanced disease will develop recurrent disease, causing approximately 60-80% of patients to die within 5 years of initial diagnosis. The chemotherapy regimens of the past century are summarized and the focus is on current systemic therapies and future developments in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Recently various promising treatments emerged. Attempts to optimize chemotherapy have included weekly scheduling of paclitaxel and intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Trials using angiogenesis inhibition and poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors show an advantage in progression-free survival while further overall survival data are awaited. Trabectedin, Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and chemo-immunotherapy may be become a promising therapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer. This Editorial encapsulates these new developments in ovarian cancer that are described extensively in the current theme issue Advances in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Therapy.

Management of Ovarian Cancer — Is There a Role for Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC)?

“…In the bulk of patients with ovarian cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy is required [13]. Initially, the chemotherapeutic agents of choice included a platinum-based chemotherapy and a classic alkylating agent, and common agents used were cisplatin and cyclophosphamide [14]. After the Gynaecological Oncology Group (GOG) 111 and OV10 trials, looking specifically at the combinations of cisplatin with either cyclophosphamide or paclitaxel, were performed, the standard of care following surgery for stage 3 and 4 ovarian cancer was a combination of a platinum-based agent and a taxane, with intravenous (i.v.)…”

Update on the management and the role of intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer

“…Initially, the chemotherapeutic agents of choice included a platinum-based chemotherapy and a classic alkylating agent, and commonly used were cisplatin and cyclophosphamide [14]. After the Gynaecological Oncology Group (GOG) 111 and OV10 trials, looking specifically at the combinations of cisplatin with either cyclophosphamide or paclitaxel, were performed, the standard of care following surgery, for stage 3 and 4 ovarian cancer, was a combination of a platinum-based agent and a taxane, with intravenous (i.v.)…”

The Response of Second Line Chemotherapy Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer in Sudan: 2013-2017

“…The world health organization (WHO) classified the ovarian cancer histologically to many types based on their histological principles (21), the high grade serous ovarian carcinoma are considered the most common histological type (22). The current management for the ovarian tumours at the early stage includes surgical removal (23,24), followed by combination platinum/taxane chemotherapy (25,26), while the others two thirds of patients which presented with advance late stage respond to the conventional therapy (27). 60% of them will have disease recurrence and up to 90% will die eventually (6).…”