Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: Chemotherapy at the end of life is a complex and challenging problem in medical oncology. Patients affected by ovarian cancer (OC) often experience a chronicization and slow progression of their disease, and chemotherapy is proposed until the end of life.

A considerable number of patients with a cancer diagnosis are of childbearing age and have not satisfied their desire for a family. Despite ovarian cancer (OC) usually occurring in older patients, 3%–14% are diagnosed at a fertile age with the overall 5-year survival rate being 91.2% in women ≤44 years of age when it is found at 1A–B stage. In this scenario, testing the safety and the efficacy of fertility sparing strategies in OC patients is very important overall in terms of quality of life.

Background: The differential diagnosis of lung and pleural metastases and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be challenging.
Case: We report a case of a 41-year-old woman with FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) stage IV ovarian cancer with pleural and pulmonary spread. After primary cytoreduction was performed, she developed a high fever and worsening dyspnea with desaturation (92% in ambient air). Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus

At the beginning of 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads worldwide. Patients with ovarian cancer should be considered at high-risk of developing severe morbidity related to COVID-19. Most of them are diagnosed in advanced stages of disease, and they are fragile. Here, we evaluated the major impact of COVID-19 on patients with ovarian cancer, discussing the effect of the outbreak on medical and surgical treatment.

Purpose of Review: The aim of this review is to determine, in the light of recent evidences, the role of lymphadenectomy in ovarian cancer. Recent Findings: The lymphadenectomy in ovarian neoplasms (LION) trial reports no better outcomes and higher complication and mortality rates associated with lymphadenectomy. Even if performed by expert hands, lymphadenectomy has a cost in terms of longer operative time, blood loss, higher rates of transfusions, and intensive unit care.

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) has been associated with improved prognosis in several cancer conditions. Contrasting data have been produced in ovarian cancer.

To the Editor: A phase 1/2 trial investigating the combination of alisertib with paclitaxel in patients with advanced breast cancer or recurrent ovarian cancer was recently published inJAMA Oncology.

BRCA1/2 mutations play a predictive role in ovarian cancer risk evaluation. Moreover , patients are today being tested for BRCA1/2 mutations to select a tailored therapy too , because they could benefit from a treatment with PARP inhibitors (PARPi).Therefore in ovarian carcinomas (OCs), BRCA1/2 mutation testing is an important step in planning the correct therapeutic strategy in association with chemotherapy and anti VEGF agents.

Increasing evidence strongly suggests that bevacizumab compound impacts the
immunological signature of cancer patients and normalizes tumor vasculature. This study aims to
investigate the correlation between the clinical response to bevacizumab-based chemotherapy and
the improvement of immune fitness of multi-treated ovarian cancer patients. Peripheral blood
mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 20 consecutive recurrent ovarian cancer patients retrospectively
selected to have received bevacizumab or non-bevacizumab-based chemotherapy (Bev group and

The objective of this review is to summarize results from clinical trials that tested cytotoxic drugs and target strategies for the treatment of platinum resistant (PR) recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC) with particular attention to Phase III and ongoing trials. Areas covered: Since platinum free interval (PFI) represents the most important predictive factor for response to platinum re-treatment in ROC, non-platinum regimens are conventionally considered the most appropriate approaches.