How Effective Is Chemotherapy Before Surgery For Ovarian Cancer? They Call it “Neoadjuvant”
SHARE

Fact Checked

SurvivorNet Fact Checking and Medical Review Standards:  

The SurvivorNet News Team creates high quality medical information that complies with our industry leading standards for factual accuracy and sourcing from leading experts at academic medical institutions. Every news article is thoroughly fact-checked by our physician collaborators. We vet each piece of work for factual integrity, impartiality, and clearly label any professional conflicts.

All SurvivorNet articles adhere to the following standards:

  1. All studies and research papers cited are from reputable academic medical institutions or peer-reviewed journals.
  2. When we use data, statistics, or quotes these references link to the original source.
  3. All content related to new treatments, drugs, procedures, and so on must clearly describe availability, side effects, treatment target (such as triple negative breast cancer)
  4. All medical information on SurvivorNet is sourced from respected medical professionals with verified medical credentials and links are provided to these sources.
  5. We strive to give the reader relevant background information and include, clearly-sourced contextual health information in all articles. Readers are clearly alerted to any conflicts of interest from a medical source or the authors of a cited study.
/ Updated March 12th, 2024

How Effective Is Chemotherapy Before Surgery For Ovarian Cancer? They Call it “Neoadjuvant”

Medical Source: Dr. Ronald Alvarez
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
×

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy For Ovarian Cancer

  • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is administered before surgical procedures to shrink tumors
  • If neoadjuvant chemotherapy is effective, there will be clinical evidence that the cancer has regressed and women’s overall health will improve
  • Successful results from neoadjuvant chemotherapy may increase the likelihood that surgery will be successful
  • In the COVID-19 era, it’s possible your doctor may recommend chemo before surgery in an effort to manage your risk for exposure
“For ovarian cancer, for the most part, chemotherapy is better tolerated and more effective,” says Dr. Ronald Alvarez, a gynecologic oncologist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, chemotherapy has proven to be a successful treatment option which has helped many patients go into remission. This points to key developments in chemotherapy drugs, which have improved over years of research. Neoadjuvant chemotherapies are one of the treatment options available to ovarian cancer patients, which are drugs administered before surgical procedures to shrink tumors.

Read More
“If we choose to use neoadjuvant chemotherapies for patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, we would like to see clinical evidence that the cancer has regressed,” Dr. Alvarez says. “Something like the reduction of ascites (abdominal fluid), less evidence of cancer on physical exams or imaging studies, and a significant drop in the CA 125.”

A CA 125 is a protein in the blood, and by performing a CA 125 test doctors might be able to detect early signs of ovarian cancer. Additionally, if the neoadjuvant chemotherapy is successful, women’s overall health should improve as well. Responding well to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is typically a good sign that when women undergo a surgical procedure for the disease, the results will also be successful.

Chemotherapy Options For Ovarian Cancer

While neoadjuvant chemotherapy has proven to be a successful treatment option for many women, deciding which treatment is best is a decided case-by-case. There are several different types of drugs and different protocols that doctors can select among, choosing combinations, dosages, sequences and treatments they think will best work for their patients. However, carboplatin and paclitaxel are considered the gold standard of treatment in many cases, which are drugs given together every three weeks in cycles during treatment. However, like many chemotherapies, these drugs do come with their own side effects.

The main side effects of carboplatin and paclitaxel are that they can lower blood counts, which can make patients susceptible to bleeding and infections. To monitor this side effect, some patients may need a blood transfusion. Women may also experience nausea, vomiting, and fatigue but they are easily managed. Additionally, hair loss is often an inevitable side effect of chemotherapy, but for women who would like to keep some of their hair during treatment, cooling caps might be able to slow hair thinning.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be paired with bevacizumab (brand name Avastin) a drug that is used for ovarian cancer. The drug is administered intravenously and can be given in combination with other chemotherapy drugs.  Avastin works by affecting the growth of blood vessels, starving tumors of the blood they need as nourishment. Avastin may also be used as a maintenance therapy for a year or so after surgery and was just approved by the FDA to be used in conjunction with olaparib (brand name LYNPARZA) in HRD (Homologous Recombination Deficiency) positive women who show a response to platinum-based chemotherapy.  The results of a recent trial showed an increase in progression-free survival from an average of 17 to 37 months in women with HRD and a BRCA mutation using this regimen. For women with HRD but no BRCA mutation the improvement was 16.6 to 28 months.

 

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Dr. Ronald Alvarez is the Chairman and Clinical Service Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

SN Local - Explore Ovarian Cancer expertise and community near you:

Related Content
NOW
PLAYING
Expecting Mom's Breast Lump Dismissed As 'Most Likely To Do With Pregnancy,' But It Was Cancer— How Following Her Gut Led To a Diagnosis
NOW
PLAYING
Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer: Everything You Need To Know
NOW
PLAYING
Beauty Salon Worker, 19, Thought Stomach Pain Was Anxiety From a Break-Up, Turned Out To Be Ovarian Cancer
NOW
PLAYING
New Studies Suggest Breastfeeding, Which TV Personality Coco Austin Did For Years, After Breast Cancer May Reduce Recurrence Risk or New Breast Cancer Diagnoses
NOW
PLAYING
For Woman, 44, Eraser-Sized Growth in Belly Button Turns Out To Be Ovarian Cancer Thanks To Caring Dermatologist
NOW
PLAYING
Why Model Elle Macpherson's Breast Cancer Treatment Decision Is Not Necessarily So Controversial; The Serious Study of Overtreatment

Patient Pathfinder:

Clinical Trial Finder

Are you looking for other treatment options?
Right now there are ... ovarian cancer trials in the U.S. within 100 miles of

Enter your zip code and travel distance to explore trials in your area...

Continue The Journey

Explore: Maintenance

Related Articles

Overview

Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer: Everything You Need To Know

New Studies Suggest Breastfeeding, Which TV Personality Coco Austin Did For Years, After Breast Cancer May Reduce Recurrence Risk or New Breast Cancer Diagnoses

For Woman, 44, Eraser-Sized Growth in Belly Button Turns Out To Be Ovarian Cancer Thanks To Caring Dermatologist

Why Model Elle Macpherson’s Breast Cancer Treatment Decision Is Not Necessarily So Controversial; The Serious Study of Overtreatment

×

Introducing, the Journey Bar

Use this bar to access information about the steps in your cancer journey.

Please confirm you are a US based health care provider:

Yes, I am a health care Provider No, I am not a health care provider