Should Your Treatment Also Include Bevacizumab, A Drug To Reduce Tumor Blood Flow?
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 May 1st, 2019

Should Your Treatment Also Include Bevacizumab, A Drug To Reduce Tumor Blood Flow?

Medical Source: Dr. Leslie Boyd
NYU Langone Health
×

Many women with ovarian cancer consider Bevacizumab (Avastin) as a part of their treatment plan, particularly when chemotherapy proves unsuccessful. Bevacizumab is a biological agent that blocks vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein that creates tumor-feeding blood vessels. The therapy can limit the spread of these vessels, effectively "starving" the tumors to a point where they cease growing. The drug is most commonly used to treat colorectal cancer, but has also been successful treating ovarian cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, and cervical cancer.

Oncologists are in the midst of a robust debate about when the drug is safest and most effective to introduce. In the case of ovarian cancer, Bevacizumab is generally utilized after a relatively quick recurrence following chemotherapy. These cases are known as "platinum-resistant" cancers, as the primary agent in many chemotherapies used for ovarian cancers is platinum. When tumors recur under six months after the end of chemotherapy treatment, Bevacizumab can be a next step.

Read More
Dr. Leslie Boyd, a gynecologic oncologist at NYU Langone Health, acknowledges that Bevacizumab can lead to remarkable results. "There have been some convincing trials showing that there's a pretty strong survival benefit for patients with platinum-resistant cancer with the addition of Bevacizumab." Dr. Boyd cautions, however, against women using Bevacizumab shortly after undergoing surgery. "I worry about the toxicity of Bevacizumab up front, especially after particularly radical surgery. For those reasons, I tend not to give it in the front-line setting."

Dr. David Cibula, the Vice President of the European Gynecological Society, agrees that ovarian cancer patients should wait until significantly after undergoing surgery to begin taking Bevacizumab, but also suggests that the relative risk of side effects is low. "Bevacizumab is really a very well-tolerated drug," Dr. Cibula says. "It's very highly likely you will not feel any specific problems."

Dr. Cibula highlights several of the side effects that could show up with the drug, particularly when taken too close to an operation. "There is a very low risk in ovarian cancer that this kind of treatment can cause bowel fistulas, meaning perforation of the bowel," Dr. Cibula explains. This perforation is far more likely to occur when women begin treatment within a month of an elective operation, and can cause stomach acid to leak into other parts of the body. A bowel fistula is extremely serious and requires immediate treatment and care.

Dr. Cibula also outlines the risk of blood clots for ovarian cancer patients who take Bevacizumab. Clottingor Deep Venous Thrombosiscan occur as a result as a byproduct of the drug's blockage of the VEGF blood vessels. These vessels feed tumors, but they can also harm healthy cells that generally fight clotting. These risks led the FDA in 2004 to feature a “black box” warning about the potential for blood clotting on all Bevacizumab prescriptions. In addition to these warnings, the drug also has “black box” designations for the increased risk of intestinal perforations, wound-healing complications, and hemorrhage. While these designations do not necessarily mean that all ovarian cancer patients need to be constantly concerned about these issues, women should still be aware of the risks of the drug and the real potential for internal bleeding and other complications. They should contact their doctors at the first indication that one of these issues may be developing in response to the drug.

Dr. Cibula stresses that Bevacizumab is not usually a stand-alone treatment for ovarian cancer, even with platinum-resistant tumors for which chemotherapy has been unsuccessful. "Bevacizumab is currently a standard of care, but again, not as a standalone treatment, not as a singular modality, but in combination with chemotherapy." Even for ovarian cancer patients with platinum resistance, chemotherapy is an important part of treatment, without which Bevacizumab would be unlikely to be effective.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Dr. Leslie Boyd is a Gynecologic Oncologist at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center. Read More

Maintenance for Ovarian Cancer Patients

After initial surgery and chemotherapy, the maintenance period begins for women with ovarian cancer. Maintenance treatment seeks to prevent the cancer from recurring for as long as possible, and can be anything from rigorous surveillance to use of PARP inhibitors.

NOW
PLAYING
An Ovarian Cancer Drug That Cuts Tumor Growth
NOW
PLAYING
The Importance of Genetic Testing For Ovarian Cancer Maintenance Therapy
NOW
PLAYING
What Is Maintenance Therapy?
NOW
PLAYING
A Targeted Ovarian Cancer Treatment-- The Role of Avastin (Bevacizumab)
NOW
PLAYING
Ovarian Cancer - How You'll Be Monitored

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: Recurrence

Related Articles

Overview

Reducing Peripheral Neuropathy, A Common Chemotherapy Side Effect for Black Women With Breast Cancer

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 & The Importance of Advocating For Yourself

Dog the Bounty Hunter’s Daughter Bonnie Chapman, 25, Lost Nearly 60 Pounds On Tirzepatide— The New Data On Long-Term Benefits of Blockbuster Weight Loss Drugs

Overview

Breast Cancer Patients Thank Olivia Munn, 44, For Posing With Her Surgery Scars– Refusing To Be Insecure

×

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