title: Optimal first-line treatment in ovarian cancer.
abstract: Treatment of ovarian cancer remains challenging despite the high complete response rate seen after maximal surgical debulking surgery and platinum-combination chemotherapy. as most patients will relapse and eventually succumb to ovarian cancer, new strategies are urgently required to improve survival. a platinum-taxane combination has been the cornerstone of treatment for >15 years. Better use of these drugs is being explored through scheduling studies, and dose-dense or intraperitoneal (IP) therapies. Further improvements in treatment will most likely come from the integration of optimal chemotherapy with one or more of the hundreds of molecular-targeted agents that could be active in ovarian cancer. The greatest experience has been with anti-angiogenic agents. Two large phase III trials in first-line ovarian cancer have demonstrated a positive effect of bevacizumab when administered concurrently with chemotherapy and then as a maintenance treatment. In this review, we discuss the existing treatments for ovarian cancer and highlight areas of recent progress.
authors.affiliation: UCL Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, London,  UK.
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Raja
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chopra
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ledermann
mesh_terms: D018262:Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017326:Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D002945:Cisplatin