Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ovarian cancer

Patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a chance of less than 50% after radical debulking surgery. In spite of the currently more effective combination chemotherapy agents that have become available as adjuvant therapy in the last decade, the prognosis of patients with residual tumor mass larger than 1 cm in diameter following surgery is still poor. Neoadjuvant or primary chemotherapy has been suggested as an alternative approach to primary laparotomy of the bulky ovarian cancer. The advantages and available data on neoadjuvant chemotherapy are discussed in this review.