Dr. Kurnit on Adjuvant Chemotherapy Regimens in Mucinous Ovarian Cancer

Katherine Kurnit, MD, OBGYN oncology fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, compares the benefit of gastrointestinal (GI)-based versus gynecologic (GYN)-based adjuvant chemotherapy regimens in patients with mucinous ovarian cancer.

Results from a recent retrospective study indicate that treatment with a GI-based regimen may be more beneficial than that of a GYN-based one in this patient population. Those who received the GI-based regimen fared significantly better in terms of progression-free survival and overall survival, says Kurnit, who was the lead author of the study.

These results, she adds, were somewhat unexpected. Although her team hypothesized that the GI-based regimens may lead to better outcomes, they did not expect that the difference in benefit would be as significant as it was. In fact, Kurnit adds that she has had more experience using the GYN-based regimens than she does the GI-based ones.

If this is an approach that physicians should consider using in the future, says Kurnit, then these data are really going to change the treatment approach for these patients and the considerations for chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting.

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