Improvement in the prognosis of ovarian cancer in the era before addition of molecular targeting therapy

Abstract

Objective: The prognosis of ovarian cancer has improved because of platinum-and taxanecontaining chemotherapy. We investigated the 5-year disease-specific overall survival and prognostic factors of patients with advanced ovarian cancer to elucidate the change in clinical course of ovarian cancer with the advance of chemotherapy for patients who developed relapse in the era before the addition of molecular targeting therapy. Methods: We reviewed the clinical course of 134 patients with advanced ovarian cancer (FIGO Stage III and IV) treated in the past 11 years (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010). We classified the patients into two groups: those who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer from 1999 to 2005 (Group A) and those who had been diagnosed from 2006 to 2010 (Group B). We compared the 5-year diseasespecific overall survival and median survival rates between these two groups. We also investigated the prognostic factors of 104 patients who developed relapse. Results: The 5-year disease-specific overall survival rate was significantly higher in Group B than A (67.0% vs. 38.6%; P = 0.032). Chemotherapy containing pegylated liposomal doxorubicin hydrochloride, non-clear cell adenocarcinoma and intestinal resection were independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: The induction of new chemotherapeutic drugs and the increased variation of secondor third-line chemotherapy affected the improvement in overall survival of patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

Changes in ovarian cancer survival during the 20 years before the era of targeted therapy

“…Furthermore, advances in chemotherapy for the recurrent and supportive care settings might help improve survival outcomes [ 6 ]. During the next decades, enormous changes in survival are expected based on the incorporation of targeted treatments for ovarian cancer.…”

“…During the last 20 years, there has been an improvement in survival of patients with ovarian cancer [ 1 , 4 – 6 ]. A number of strategies have been evaluated with the goal of improving survival, and some of these strategies have become standard treatments for ovarian cancer.…”

Real‐world clinical outcomes of olaparib therapy in Chinese patients with advanced serous ovarian cancer treated in Macau

“…It is associated with aggressive disease progression and poor prognosis, accounting for up to 80% of ovarian cancer deaths . Although survival rates of ovarian cancer have improved significantly in the last decade due to advancements in surgical techniques and the induction of new chemotherapeutic drugs, disease recurrence and treatment resistance often occur.…”

Conditional Relative Survival of Ovarian Cancer: A Korean National Cancer Registry Study

“…For example, even patients with distant stage disease at diagnosis who survived 5 years, had a 10 times higher risk of death than patients diagnosed with localized disease. This suggests that delayed mortality after a series of anti-cancer treatments ( 39 ), risk of late recurrence ( 40 ), and toxic late effects from radiation or chemotherapy can cause death in this population even after long-term survival ( 41 ). Therefore, clinicians need to pay attention to such risks in this population, in addition to developing effective strategies for early detection.…”