Country's first guide for treating relapsed ovarian cancer

Shanghai medical professionals are teaming up with counterparts in Zhejiang Province to release China's first research-based guide on treating patients with relapsed ovarian cancer.

Although ovarian cancer is only the ninth most prevalent cancer among females, it is the most fatal because more than 80 percent of patients are diagnosed in the terminal stage and 70 percent have relapses within two to three years.

Dr Zang Rongyu from the department of gynecologic oncology at Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai led the study, which was published in the prestigious journal Lancet Oncology.

“Though most doctors and patients considered surgery an effective treatment for women with relapses of ovarian cancer, there is no comparative research to clinically confirm that,” said Zang, whose team studied 357 patients who had experienced one relapse and found those sensitive to platinum, commonly used in chemotherapy, survive 5.5 months longer after receiving surgery than those who don’t receive surgery. Patients who are platinum-resistant do not benefit from surgery.

The treatment-free survival time was also found to be 4.4 months longer than for those who receive surgery.

For the first time, the study confirmed the value of surgery on relapsed ovarian cancer and outlines those who can benefit from it, indicating the importance of individual and precise treatment for each patient.

Experts said the study will continue to follow patients for another 2.5 years for deeper and longer-term research.