Net Guides: Ovarian Cancer

//THE ONLINE ONCOLOGIST

Society of Gynecologic Oncologists The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) is a national organization for healthcare professionals who treat women with gynecologic cancers. By becoming a member of SGO, oncologists can access the SGO website’s practice management tools, clinical guidelines, clinical data, practice resources, and more. Members with subscriptions can also access the SGO journal Gynecologic Oncology online and earn CME credit for reviewing manuscripts submitted to the journal. Other features of the SGO website include an e-learning center, coding and reimbursement workshop, surgical education section, bookstore, relevant news articles, and information on upcoming gynecologic oncology conferences and meetings. Another section of the SGO website focuses on government relations and has a legislative action center and sections on position statements, regulatory and legislative issues, and healthcare reform implementation.

http://sgo.org

//THE EDUCATED PATIENT®

Ovarian Cancer National Alliance The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) is an advocacy group for persons with ovarian cancer. On the OCNA website, visitors can access an “About Ovarian Cancer” section featuring an ovarian cancer overview and pages on ovarian cancer statistics, risk factors, detection, treatment, symptoms, and FAQs. The OCNA launched a periodical in September, The Teal Journal, which is designed to explain to patients the latest scientific findings and how they impact the ovarian cancer community. The clinical trials section of the website explains how to find a clinical trial, the various types of trials, barriers to clinical trials, and common questions and concerns. This section also offers a list of resources on clinical trials. Other features on the OCNA website include a glossary of ovarian cancer terms, symptom diary, and educational webinar series.

www.ovariancancer.org

//ONLINE CME

Making the best of PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer

Credits: 1.00

Fee: None

Expires: August 10, 2011

This CME activity focuses on how poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors can be used in the treatment of ovarian cancer, especially in cancers with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 tumor suppressors. The first sections review BRCA1 and BRA mutations in ovarian cancer, the response of BRCA carriers to therapy, and BRCA1 and BRA in DNA repair. The next part focuses on PARP inhibitors, specifically the synthetic lethality of PARP inhibitors, resistance to PARP inhibitors, recent clinical studies with PARP inhibitors, and an integrated approach to PARP inhibition. The final sections of the CME activity discuss the timing of treatment, identifying the target population, and the authors’ conclusions. After completing the activity, participants should be able to distinguish the characteristics of BRCA-associated ovarian cancer, recognize how BRCA mutations affect the response to therapy for advanced ovarian cancer, and review the efficacy and safety of PARP inhibitors in the treatment of ovarian cancer based on recent research, and including the limitations in current studies.

http://tinyurl.com/3x3v77w

//eABSTRACT

[18F]FDG-PET/CT monitoring early identifies advanced ovarian cancer patients who will benefit from prolonged neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Journal: The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Authors: Martoni AA, Fanti S, Za- magni C, et al

Purpose: The standard duration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (na- CHT) prior to debulking surgery for advanced ovarian cancer is 3 courses. The authors of this study hypothesized that some patients may benefit from additional courses, and that [18F]FDG-PET/CT monitoring during na-CHT could predict early pathological response, enabling phy- sicians to deliver an optimal duration of na-CHT. For this study, patients with advanced ovarian cancer who were unsuitable for optimal upfront surgery but were fit for na-CHT were monitored using FDG-PET/CT at baseline and after 3 and 6 courses of carboplatin-paclitaxel CHT. At the end of na-CHT, patients were re- evaluated for definitive optimal surgery. Percentage changes in maximal standardized uptake value were then compared with pathological response. Patients with pathological complete response or minimal residual disease were classified as pathological re- sponders (pRs); all other cases were classified as non-responders (NRs).

Results: Baseline FDG-PET/CT was found to be abnormal in all 42 patients enrolled in the study. After 3 and 6 courses, the median maximal standardized uptake value had decreased. After 3 courses, 17 patients presented with 100% maximal standardized uptake value, 15 of which resulted as pR and had no postsurgical residual disease at the end of na-CHT. Of the 25 patients who had less than 100% maximal standardized uptake value after 3 courses, 6 were classified as pRs and 19 as NRs at the end of na-CHT. The authors concluded that patients with advanced ovarian cancer who present with normalization of the maximal standard- ized uptake value after 3 courses of na-CHT have a high chance of benefiting from an additional 3 courses in order to obtain pathological complete response or minimal residual disease and undergo optimal surgery.

http://tinyurl.com/32rdu53

//CLINICAL TRIAL

Efficacy and safety and pharmacokinetic study of Avastin and Doxil in ovarian cancer

Study Type: Interventional Age/Sex Requirements: 18 years (female) Sponsor: New York University School of Medicine ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00846612 Purpose: This phase 2 clinical trial will be evaluating the safety and ef- ficacy of using a combination of Doxil (doxorubicin) and Avastin (bevaci- zumab) in the treatment of ovarian cancer patients who are resistant to or have relapsed from platinum- based therapy. The primary outcome measure of will be progression-free survival. Secondary measures will in- clude the toxicities of Doxil combined with Avastin, the overall response rate, and the Doxil plasma levels with or without Avastin. http://bit.ly/fjq2cE