Chemotherapy-free treatments: are we ready for prime time?

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is most frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage and, despite high response rates to initial taxane-platinum-based chemotherapy, more than 70% of patients will develop recurrent disease and will receive several chemotherapy treatments. At present, the 5-year overall survival (OS) for women diagnosed with stage III–IV disease is 46% and patients with genetic impairments of DNA repair pathways [BRCA mutations and in general homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)] live longer and possibly will receive even more lines of chemotherapy.