The management of early ovarian cancer

Approximately one third of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer present with localized or early-stage disease. Prognostic features identify certain subsets of patients with good risk characteristics who do not require adjuvant treatment after comprehensive surgical staging and cytoreduction. Only a minority of patients undergo such a complete procedure, which often results in understaging of these patients. In the United States, patients with poor prognostic features, such as stage IC to II disease, poorly differentiated histologic grade, clear cell histology, dense adhesions, and large volume ascites, have received adjuvant chemotherapy. Single-agent or combination chemotherapy, whole abdominal irradiation, and intraperitoneal phosphorus 32 have been evaluated, although no modality has been shown to improve overall survival. Randomized trials investigating the optimal therapy or whether any therapy is truly effective are in progress. Until the completion of these trials, the most common postoperative adjuvant therapy in these patients in this country remains combination chemotherapy.