Current Advances in the Treatment Landscape of Ovarian Cancer

Mario M. Leitao, Jr, MD, FACOG, FACS, program director of Gynecologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses what is currently being investigated in the treatment landscape of ovarian cancers.

There is a lot of discussion on hypothermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), which is currently only available to patients on a clinical trial, Leitao says. HIPEC is currently being tested in a phase II trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Leitao says he hopes this can add value to patients as a treatment, but it does require more time.

Leitao expects PARP inhibitors will head to the frontline setting for treatment of patients with ovarian cancer, though it is not there yet. His lab is currently running clinical trials on immunotherapies as a treatment in the neoadjuvant setting. He hopes to see if there is an improvement in survival or progression after adding immunotherapy drugs to platinum-paclitaxel based treatments.