Subscribe to RSS

DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_112_20
How I Treat Epithelial Ovarian Cancer during COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is accelerating in an unprecedented manner, with 3,175,207 confirmed cases and 224,172 deaths worldwide.[1] Studies from China and Italy reported that individuals with cancer have a two-fold higher rate of COVID-19 infection and a ten-fold higher risk of mortality as compared to individuals patients without cancer.[2], [3], [4] Cancer caregivers are battling in the wake of a scarcity of workforce, personal protective equipment, medications, and risk of COVID-19 infection. This catastrophic situation warrants a relook of management of epithelial ovarian cancer adapted to the local context. Various guidelines on ovarian cancer management and publications of landmark trials were reviewed in this regard, and the latest literature on COVID-19 was studied.[5], [6] These are the suggestions from science and cost-care consortium for managing ovarian cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic [Table 1].
Publication History
Received: 29 March 2020
Accepted: 09 April 2020
Article published online:
23 May 2021
© 2020. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)
Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India
-
References
- 1 WHO Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 102.pdf [Internet]. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200501-covid-19-sitrep.pdf?sfvrsn=742f4a18_2 Available from: [Last cited on 2020 May 02]
- 2 Onder G, Rezza G, Brusaferro S. Case-Fatality Rate and Characteristics of Patients Dying in Relation to COVID-19 in Italy. JAMA 2020; DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.4683. Published online March 23
- 3 Liang W, Guan W, Chen R, Wang W, Li J, Xu K. et al. Cancer patients in SARS-CoV-2 infection: A nationwide analysis in China. Lancet Oncol 2020; 21: 335-7
- 4 Yu J, Ouyang W, Chua MLK, Xie C. SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Patients With Cancer at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Wuhan, China. JAMA Oncol Published online March 25 2020; DOI: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2020.0980.
- 5 NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Ovarian Cancer v1. 2020. https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/ovarian.pdf Available from: [Last accessed on 2020 Mar 26]
- 6 Ledermann JA, Raja FA, Fotopoulou C, Gonzalez-Martin A, Colombo N, Sessa C. et al. Newly diagnosed and relapsed epithelial ovarian carcinoma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol 2013; 24 (Suppl. 06) 24-32
- 7 ESMO. Management and Treatment Adapted Recommendations in the COVID-19 Era: Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. ESMO. https://www.esmo.org/guidelines/gynaecological-cancers/esmo-management-and-treatment-adapted-recommendations-in-the-covid-19-era-epithelial-ovarian-cancer Available from: [Last accessed on 2020 Apr 02]
- 8 Surgical Considerations for Gynecologic Oncologists during the COVID-19 Pandemic. SGO. 2020 https://www.sgo.org/clinical-practice/management/covid-19-resources-for-health-care-practitioners/surgical-considerations-for-gynecologic-oncologists-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ Available from: [Last accessed on 2020 Apr 06]
- 9 American College of Surgeons. COVID-19: Considerations for Optimum Surgeon Protection Before, During, and After Operation. American College of Surgeons; 2020. https://www.facs.org/covid-19/clinical-guidance/surgeon-protection Available from: [Last accessed on 2020 Apr 70]
- 10 Kang S, Nam BH. Does neoadjuvant chemotherapy increase optimal cytoreduction rate in advanced ovarian cancer? Meta-analysis of 21 studies. Ann Surg Oncol 2009; 16: 2315-20
- 11 Vergote I, Tropé CG, Amant F, Kristensen GB, Ehlen T, Johnson N. et al. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy or primary surgery in stage IIIC or IV ovarian cancer. N Engl J Med 2010; 363: 943-53
- 12 Onda T, Satoh T, Saito T, Kasamatsu T, Nakanishi T, Nakamura K. et al. Comparison of treatment invasiveness between upfront debulking surgery versus interval debulking surgery following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for stage III/IV ovarian, tubal, and peritoneal cancers in a phase III randomised trial: Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG0602. Eur J Cancer 2016; 64: 22-31
- 13 ElNaggar AC, Hade EM, O'Malley DM, Liang MI, Copeland LJ, Fowler JM. et al. Time to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer: Compliance with ovarian cancer quality indicators at a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Gynecol Oncol 2018; 151: 501-5
- 14 Flynn PM, Paul J, Cruickshank DJ. Scottish Gynaecological Cancer Trials Group. Does the interval from primary surgery to chemotherapy influence progression-free survival in ovarian cancer? Gynecol Oncol 2002; 86: 354-7
- 15 von Gruenigen VE, Huang HQ, Beumer JH, Lankes HA, Tew W, Herzog T. et al. Chemotherapy completion in elderly women with ovarian, primary peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer – An NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group study. Gynecol Oncol 2017; 144: 459-67
- 16 Parmar MK, Ledermann JA, Colombo N, du Bois A, Delaloye JF, Kristensen GB. et al. Paclitaxel plus platinum-based chemotherapy versus conventional platinum-based chemotherapy in women with relapsed ovarian cancer: The ICON4/AGO-OVAR-2.2 trial. Lancet 2003; 361: 2099-106
- 17 Barber EL, Zsiros E, Lurain JR, Rademaker A, Schink JC, Neubauer NL. The combination of intravenous bevacizumab and metronomic oral cyclophosphamide is an effective regimen for platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer. J Gynecol Oncol 2013; 24: 258-64
- 18 Pujade-Lauraine E, Hilpert F, Weber B, Reuss A, Poveda A, Kristensen G. et al. Bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy for platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer: The AURELIA open-label randomized phase III trial. J Clin Oncol 2014; 32: 1302-8
- 19 Barratt S, Medford AR, Millar AB. Vascular endothelial growth factor in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Respiration 2014; 87: 329-42
- 20 Ricciardi E, Baert T, Ataseven B, Heitz F, Prader S, Bommert M. et al. Low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2018; 78: 972-6
- 21 LaFargue CJ, Dal Molin GZ, Sood AK, Coleman RL. Exploring and comparing adverse events between PARP inhibitors. Lancet Oncol 2019; 20: e15-28
- 22 Martincorena I, Campbell PJ. Somatic mutation in cancer and normal cells. Science 2015; 349: 1483-9
- 23 Varga A, Piha-Paul S, Ott PA, Mehnert JM, Berton-Rigaud D, Morosky A. et al. Pembrolizumab in patients with programmed death ligand 1-positive advanced ovarian cancer: Analysis of KEYNOTE-028. Gynecol Oncol 2019; 152: 243-50
- 24 Siddiqi HK, Mehra MR. COVID-19 illness in native and immunosuppressed states: A clinical-therapeutic staging proposal. Heart Lung Transplant 2020; DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2020.03.012. https://www.jhltonline.org/article/S1053-2498(20)31473-X/abstract Mar 20 [Epub ahead of print]. Available from [Last accessed on 2020 Mar 26]
- 25 Rustin GJ, van der Burg ME, Griffin CL, Guthrie D, Lamont A, Jayson GC. et al. Early versus delayed treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer (MRC OV05/EORTC 55955): A randomised trial. Lancet 2010; 376: 1155-63