title: Clinical trials of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer: what do we gain after an EORTC trial and after two additional ongoing trials are completed?
abstract: The aim of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is to reduce the tumor volume or spread of the disease before the main treatment, and it could possibly make the main procedures easier or less invasive. Although the standard therapeutic strategy for advanced ovarian cancer is a maximum primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy, a European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) prospective randomized trial demonstrated that neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery was not inferior to the standard procedure. This study raised a number of controversies, particularly regarding the quality of debulking surgery. To solve the questions, we need to wait for the results of two additional ongoing randomized trials. However, the results of those two trials must be carefully assessed, because the quality of debulking surgery would significantly affect survival, and may make the interpretation of the trial results more confusing and difficult.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Saitama Medical School International Medical Center, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka-City, Saitama, 350-1298, Japan. fujiwara@saitama-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurosaki
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D047368:Tumor Burden
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents