Recurrent ovarian cancer: how important is it to treat to disease progression?
Author(s): Herzog TJ Affiliation(s): Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA. th2135@columbia.edu Publication date & source: 2004-11-15, Clin Cancer Res., 10(22):7439-49. Publication type: Review Ovarian cancer is increasingly recognized as a chronic disease whose treatment is often characterized by administration of multiple, sequential active agents, each of which may or may not be accompanied by a tumor response. Despite the large proportion of patients who relapse and undergo longer-term treatment, the question of optimal treatment duration has not been fully addressed to date. For patients who progress on therapy, the answer is straightforward: they are switched to another active agent, presumably having a different mechanism of action from previous therapies with, ideally, limited overlapping toxicities. However, for patients who remain in partial response or who have stable disease, the answer is less apparent and less clear. The ma