[Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer]

Primary surgical cytoreduction followed by paclitaxel/carboplatin combination chemotherapy currently is the treatment of choice for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Aggressive surgery is widely accepted as a valid approach to initial cytoreduction of stage III disease, but suboptimal residual disease following primary surgical resection is one of the most important adverse prognostic factors in these patients. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been proposed as an alternative approach to conventional surgery for initial management of bulky ovarian cancer, with the goal of improving surgical quality. General acceptance of neoadjuvant chemotherapy as an alternative to primary surgery for patients who are not ideal surgical candidates remains limited, because equivalent or superior survival has not yet been demonstrated in a prospective randomized study. A large-scale, prospective, randomized study is being conducted by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Gynecologic Cancer Cooperative Group and Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) to compare outcomes (overall and progression-free survival, quality of life, treatment complications) of neoadjuvant chemotherapy/interval debulking surgery versus primary cytoreductive surgery/adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma.