Upfront chemo does not appear to worsen ovarian-cancer survival

Reuters Health - 12/10/2020 - Chemotherapy before cytoreductive surgery does not appear to worsen survival in women with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer, according to findings from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). "While this association doesn't prove the safety of upfront chemotherapy, it is concordant with the randomized-trial data and certainly suggests that no evidence of harm can be measured on the population level," Dr. Alexander Melamed of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, in New York City, told Reuters Health by email. "There are now four randomized trials that show starting treatment with chemotherapy results in equivalent long-term cancer outcomes and less surgical morbidity," he said. "Nonetheless, some opinion leaders in gynecologic oncology have worried that too frequent use of this approach could harm patients." Dr. Melamed and colleagu...

Please login to read the full text of the article.

If you have no account yet, please register now.

Posted on 12 October, 202022 October, 2020