The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
recently updated the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines for Oncology™
for Ovarian Cancer to reflect the addition of two preferred combination
regimens for a specific cohort of patients based on data from recent
clinical research studies.
“Although finding effective screening tools remains
a priority, new treatment options for women with ovarian cancer such as
the ones outlined in the updated NCCN Guidelines, remains imperative to
making steady progress against the disease.”
Key updates to the NCCN Guidelines include the addition of carboplatin
(Paraplatin®, Bristol-Myers Squibb)/weekly paclitaxel (Taxol®,
Bristol-Myers Squibb) and carboplatin/liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil®,
Centocor Ortho Biotech) for cytotoxic therapy for patients with
platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or
primary peritoneal cancer that has recurred.
These modifications made to the NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer are
based on results from recent studies in The
Lancet and The
Journal of Clinical Oncology demonstrating that both combination
regimens improved median progression-free survival in women with
specific types of recurring ovarian cancer as compared to conventional
regimens. In addition, the carboplatin/weekly paclitaxel regimen
improved overall survival.
“Ovarian cancer is a challenge to treat because by the time the majority
of the women are diagnosed with the disease, it has already progressed
to stage III or IV,” says Robert J. Morgan, MD, of City of Hope
Comprehensive Cancer Center and the chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel
for Ovarian Cancer. “Although finding effective screening tools remains
a priority, new treatment options for women with ovarian cancer such as
the ones outlined in the updated NCCN Guidelines, remains imperative to
making steady progress against the disease.”
Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic
cancer in the United States and the country’s fifth most common cause of
cancer mortality in women. In the year 2009, there were more than 21,000
new diagnoses and nearly 15,000 deaths from this neoplasm in the United
States.
The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are
developed and updated through an evidence-based process with explicit
review of the scientific evidence integrated with expert judgment by
multidisciplinary panels of physicians from NCCN
Member Institutions.