Surveillance Patterns After Treatment for Primary Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2020
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology released surveillance guidelines for the detection of recurrent gynecologic cancers. Ritu Salani, MD, of The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate the practice patterns for surveillance of patients with primary ovarian cancer who achieved a complete response after therapy. They also sought to determine the percentage of clinicians who adhered to the guidelines. The results of this single-institution retrospective cohort study were published in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer.
"Overall, there was a relatively high rate of compliance with Society of Gynecologic Oncology surveillance guidelines for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer," the investigators commented. "Patients with nonserous histologies and patients with early-stage disease had a higher rate of noncompliance, and these patients may represent special groups that would benefit from additional survivorship education."
The investigators focused on data from 184 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who achieved a complete response after primary therapy between January 2012 and December 2016. Follow-up data were provided for a median of 37 months.
In the majority of cases (78%), surveillance was completed in compliance with the guidelines. According to the investigators, 39 visits were considered noncompliant: 44% were initiated by patients; 15% were due to the provider intentionally scheduling alternative follow-up; and 41% were off schedule due to problem visits. More patients with early-stage cancers were noncompliant than those with advanced-stage cancers (33% vs. 15%; P = .006). Additionally, patients with nonserous histologies seemed to be more likely to be noncompliant (31% vs. 16%; P = .035). When patients were stratified according to whether they had early-stage or advanced-stage disease, neither progression-free survival nor overall survival based on compliance seemed to differ.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
