Dr. Swisher on Next Steps of Treatment for Ovarian Cancer

Elizabeth Swisher, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Breast and Ovarian Cancer Prevention Program, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses next steps regarding treatments for patients with ovarian cancer.

Elizabeth Swisher, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Breast and Ovarian Cancer Prevention Program, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses next steps regarding treatments for patients with ovarian cancer.

Currently, there is a response rate of 75% for patients being treated for ovarian cancer, but most of these are partial response (PR) rates, explains Swisher.

A main challenge facing ovarian cancer is how to develop these PR rates into complete response rates. Combinations of PARP inhibitors with other DNA repair agents or even with immunotherapy has started to interest researchers, Swisher states.