title: Medical treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer.
abstract: Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is still the most common cause of death from gynecologic cancer in the USA and Europe. Only 20-30% of patients are diagnosed at the initial stage where appropriate staging surgery can be curative. Patients with high-risk Stage I disease can benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy with platinum-based schedules. The treatment of patients with advanced disease consists of a staging surgery with maximum cytoreductive effort, followed by chemotherapy with a platinum-taxane combination. Unfortunately, the majority of patients with advanced disease will relapse and become candidates for additional chemotherapy. In those patients with recurrence over 6 months after initial therapy (platinum sensitive), combinations of paclitaxel plus carboplatin and carboplatin plus gemcitabine have shown a benefit over carboplatin alone. Patients with early relapse should be managed with supportive care and sequential monotherapy if chemotherapy is indicated.
authors.affiliation: Servicio Oncología Médica, Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ctra de Colmenar Viejo Km 9, 100, 28034-Madrid, Spain. agonzalezm@seom.org
authors.forename: Antonio J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: González-Martín
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D016190:Carboplatin; D017239:Paclitaxel; D002945:Cisplatin