Maintenance treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer: Is it ready for prime time?
Approximately 1% of women in the United States will be diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) during their lifetime. It is most likely to present at a more advanced stage, requiring aggressive therapeutic measures, and most women will succumb to this illness. Due to advancements in therapy, the oncology community has begun to shift its focus to molecular targeted agents, alternative dosing schedules, and maintenance therapy. Women who achieve a response to initial adjuvant chemotherapy may be candidates for maintenance therapy, with the goal of inducing a lasting remission or prolonging the disease-free interval before recurrence. The rationale for maintenance therapy is to delay disease progression by eliminating residual, slowly-dying cancerous cells, or impeding cell turnover. This review discusses the goals of maintenance therapy for EOC with antiangiogenic agents or poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, and reviews clinical studies that have demonstrated improvements in survival outcomes. The side-effect profiles for PARP inhibitors and the implications for preserving quality of life during maintenance therapy will also be discussed.
['DiSilvestro|Paul|P|', 'Alvarez Secord|Angeles|A|']
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents D019468:Disease Management D005260:Female D006801:Humans D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms D011379:Prognosis
Epithelial ovarian cancer Maintenance therapy Antiangiogenic agents Poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors PARPi