Current treatment options in oncology
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Curr Treat Options Oncol · Apr 2015
ReviewThe role of hyperthermic intraperitoneal intraoperative chemotherapy in ovarian cancer.
Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fourth most common gynecologic cancer in Europe and is the leading cause of death among women with gynecologic malignancies. This is due to the fact that the majority of the patients are diagnosed with advanced stage disease. In these stages, extensive intraperitoneal metastases are often present, making therapy more difficult. ⋯ Currently, a total of 18 clinical trials are open and to answer the above-mentioned questions, it is adamant to complete these trials, especially the randomized phase III trials. Accrual is hampered by the fact that HIPEC is currently offered as standard treatment in some centers even though convincing evidence is not yet available. If these phase III trials show positive results in favor of HIPEC, subsequent trials comparing surgery and postoperative IP chemotherapy with surgery and HIPEC seem a logical next step.