The follow-up of ovarian cancer

Few formal guidelines exist regarding the surveillance of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. The objective of follow-up in patients who have already been treated with primary cytoreductive surgery and first-line chemotherapy is not clear, as recurrent ovarian cancer continues to be a therapeutic dilemma. The vast majority of women with relapses will eventually succumb to their disease. The primary goal of salvage therapy therefore is to maximize disease-free survival and quality of life. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether early detection of recurrent disease is beneficial. Routine physical examinations, testing with serum markers, such as CA-125, radiologic imaging, and second-look surgery have all been employed for the detection of recurrent disease. Evaluation of the efficacy of such post-treatment surveillance methods must look at the sensitivity and specificity of each. Most of the noninvasive techniques have been compared with second-look surgery, which provides the most accurate assessment of disease recurrence available to date. A lack of randomized prospective studies directly evaluating the therapeutic benefits of a second-look procedure restricts its role to research protocols. It is difficult to justify an aggressive approach to follow-up of the asymptomatic patient given the lack of sensitivity of available diagnostic methods and the limitations of current second-line chemotherapy regimens.