Abstract:
Introduction. Ovarian cancer is the second most common and the most lethal gynecologic malignancy.
Ovarian cancer is the eight most diagnosed and common cause of cancer-related deaths in the women's
world. The frequency of this tumour varies by country and ethnicity. Risk factors that contribute to the
development of ovarian cancer include genetic factors - mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, family
history of breast or ovarian cancer or factors such as - nulliparity, obesity, diabetes, alcohol consumption,
early menarche, late menopause, smoking, endometriosis.
Aim of study. Ovarian cancer is a malignant tumor that develops from ovarian tissue, the cells of which
form the epithelium of the ovarian lining diet. Treatment of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer includes
surgery and chemotherapy. Previously, the basic method to reduce the size of the primary tumor was
surgery and the next step being postoperative chemotherapy.
Methods and materials. Surgery and combination treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel are the
standard of care for patients with newly diagnosed disease, although the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy
is increasing. A systematic review of the literature was performed, using the databases Medline, PubMed,
Google Scholar to identify relevant articles, with reference to “ ovarian cancer”, “ diagnosis “, “treatment“.
Results. Surgery and combination treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel are the standard of care for
patients with newly diagnosed disease, although the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasing. The
most commonly used surgical procedures are hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and
omentectomy. Nowadays, an alternative and successful to primary debulking surgery is platinum-based
neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The main role of chemotherapy agents in ovarian cancer is to prevent cancer
cells from replicating, forming new metastases and destroying existing cancer cells. In the case of
neoadjuvant treatment, chemotherapy will be performed before surgery. Chemotherapy is given in 6 cycles
with an interval of 21 days between them. In this way the patient's body has the opportunity to recover until
the next treatment cycle. The drug can be introduced intravenously, intraperitoneally or mixed. The
platinum-based agent can be combined with chemotherapeutic preparations called taxanes (plaxitaxel,
docetaxel) to treat ovarian cancer.
Conclusion. Standard treatment for ovarian cancer is surgery, with a goal of complete tumor resection, and
chemotherapy based on platinum compounds and taxanes. Secondary to this takes place the transition of
epithelial tissue into mesenchymal and the migration of the ovarian cancer cells. One cause of poor
prognosis following chemotherapy treatment is acquired resistance to platinum preparations. The effect of
cisplatin can be potentiated by the Bcl-2 inhibitor ABT737, which in turn induces mitochondrial apoptosis
in ovarian cancer. The platinum-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves oncological outcomes and
survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancers.
