Antihypertensive Drug Use and the Risk of Ovarian Cancer Death among Finnish Ovarian Cancer Patients—A Nationwide Cohort Study https://tinyurl.com/xyz8fnw9            Ovarian cancer and hypertension are health hazards. Women with ovarian cancer have 5 years relative survival of about 50%. Similarly aged women with treated hypertension still have a 20% increase in deaths due to cardiovascular events such as stroke or myocardial infarct.          Previous anecdotal evidence has suggested that women with ovarian cancer who are receiving anti-hypertension therapy have better survival. This large study from Finland looks at more than 12000 women with ovarian cancer, of whom about 7000 received antihypertensive drugs.          After making allowance for the associated risk of death due to hypertension, the findings confirmed that over the longer period (u...

Factors determining ultra-short-term survival and the commencement of active treatment in high-grade serous ovarian cancer: a case comparison study https://tinyurl.com/8tye27az          Overall survival from ovarian cancer is gradually improving by about 2% each year. In Australia women with ovarian cancer have a 5-year’s survival rate of around 50%. There is however a sub-group of women who have very short survival after diagnosis, with 13% of women in this study dying within 100 days from diagnosis.          Previous studies have suggested that the reasons for such a short survival include advanced stage, delay in diagnosis, older age, and general frailty. Included in this study were 208 women all treated at the same centre of excellence and of whom 28 died within 100 days following initial diagnosis, which meant that none of these short-term survivors completed first-line treatment.   ...

  Trends and racial disparities in aggressive end of life care for a national sample of women with ovarian cancer https://tinyurl.com/mv2drbpy            End of life care for patients with cancer should be better. Hospice and Palliative care are now standard for patients who have entered the terminal stages of their disease. However, it seems that certain demographic groups do not receive appropriate treatment enabling death with dignity.          This retrospective study looked at almost 8000 women who died from ovarian cancer during the period 2007 to 2016. Several indicators of sub-standard care were selected; late admission or no admission to palliative care, attendance at emergency departments, and futile chemotherapy or invasive procedures administered during the last 14 days of life.          Findings from the study showed disparity betw...

Appropriate triage allows aggressive primary debulking surgery with rates of morbidity and mortality comparable to interval surgery after chemotherapy https://tinyurl.com/422ynkuc            Surgery for ovarian cancer is hazardous, with mortality rates of approximately 2% within 90 days and morbidity causing extended hospital stays beyond 10 days of up to 30%. There is a trend to more radical or extended surgery at initial presentation. Because of the hazard, surgery is frequently delayed with chemotherapy being used as initial treatment to decrease tumour bulk.              This retrospective study from the Mayo looks at 650 women with stage III/IV ovarian cancer and used triage evaluation to assess operative risk. The triage involve a measure of serum protein (albumin), the age of the patient >75, and mobility.            ...

Does Time-to-Chemotherapy after Primary Complete Macroscopic Cytoreductive Surgery Influence Prognosis for Patients with Epithelial Ovarian Cancer? https://tinyurl.com/ypxbr7j6            No woman with ovarian cancer has a perfect treatment course. Clinicians aim to manage the cancer as well as possible. However, very often internal and external factors have an effect to alter the management. None more so than during the current pandemic, which has caused many changes to best clinical care, often with delays to surgery and chemotherapy.          This study from France looks at the impact of delaying the onset of chemo following previous surgical resection of ovarian cancer. 233 patient’s records were surveyed, the median time before chemo commenced was 43 days. Overall survival time was recorded, the median being 77 months.          If the onset of ...