This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Winter, W. E. Articles by Tian, C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Winter, W. E., III Articles by Tian, C. Related Articles Related Correspondence Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

In Reply

Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Northwest Cancer Specialists, Portland, OR

G. Larry Maxwell

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC

Chunqiao Tian

Gynecologic Oncology Group Statistical and Data Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY

This is an excellent question that is currently being studied within the Gynecologic Oncology Group. These ancillary studies, including most of the patient population included in our study, will be submitted for publication shortly. Without delving into unpublished results in detail, pretreatment CA-125 levels after surgical cytoreduction seem to be independently predictive of clinical outcomes in stage III, and to a lesser extent, stage IV epithelial ovarian cancer. Its best use may be as an adjunct to residual disease status in determining prognosis and postoperative therapy.

As outlined by Prat et al, there are several studies that provide evidence that nadir CA-125 levels before consolidation therapy correlate with clinical outcomes. Unfortunately, it is difficult to apply these results to the initial decision-making for the primary management of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, as is addressed in our article.¹ It is most appropriate to use these results in discussing prognosis and clinical outcomes after primary therapy.

We will await the publication of the aforementioned studies to address these questions in detail.

AUTHORS’ DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The author(s) indicated no potential conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

1. Winter WE, Maxwell G, Tian C, et al: tumor residual after surgical cytoreduction in prediction of clinical outcome in stage IV epithelial ovarian cancer: A gynecologic oncology group study. J Clin Oncol 26:83-89, 2008[Abstract/Free Full Text]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related Correspondence

• Prognostic Role of CA-125 Nadir in Stage IV Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
  Aleix Prat, Marta Parera, and Josep Maria Del Campo
  JCO 2008 26: 1771-1772 [Full Text]
• Prognostic Role of CA-125 Nadir in Stage IV Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
  Aleix Prat, Marta Parera, and Josep Maria Del Campo
  JCO 2008 26: 1771-1772 [Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Winter, W. E. Articles by Tian, C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Winter, W. E., III Articles by Tian, C. Related Articles Related Correspondence Social Bookmarking                            What's this?