Current management strategies for ovarian cancer.
Epithelial ovarian cancer originates in the layer of cells that covers the surface of the ovaries. The disease spreads readily throughout the peritoneal cavity and to the lymphatics, often before causing symptoms. Of the cancers unique to women, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate. Most women are diagnosed as having advanced stage disease, and efforts to develop new screening approaches for ovarian cancer are a high priority. Optimal treatment of ovarian cancer begins with optimal cytoreductive surgery followed by combination chemotherapy. Ovarian cancer, even in advanced stages, is sensitive to a variety of chemotherapeutics. Although improved chemotherapy has increased 5-year survival rates, overall survival gains have been limited because of our inability to eradicate all disease. Technologic advances that allow us to examine the molecular machinery that drives ovarian cancer cells have helped to identify numerous therapeutic targets within these cells. In this review, we provide an overview of ovarian cancer with particular emphasis on recent advances in operative management and systemic therapies.
Aletti
Giovanni D
GD
Division of Gynecologic Surgery, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Gallenberg
Mary M
MM
Cliby
William A
WA
Jatoi
Aminah
A
Hartmann
Lynn C
LC
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis