在卵巢癌的治療上,傳統上除了手術切除乾淨外,抗癌藥物的使用已到了極限,不管使用何種劑型,或是何種組合,似乎都沒有比以鉑金以及紫杉醇的組合為優,雖然最近研究發現加上血管增生細胞的抑制劑,而且在傳統治療後再延長時間,可以使卵巢癌的無病存活期在前三年明顯勝出,但是長期的成效,仍待觀察,但換個角度而言,這是否代表了面對晚期的卵巢上皮癌,長期抗戰(節拍性治療法)的必要性。
Systemic administration of cytotoxic drugs is the primary treatment strategy for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer after optimal cytoreduction surgery. Conventionally, the fundamental role of cytotoxic drugs is typically to induce lethal toxicity in the largest possible number of cancer cells, but this dose also significantly damages the normal cells of the host. Since cancer could be considered as a chronic disease and might be treated like other chronic diseases to achieve a status called tumor dormancy is gaining popularity. Metronomic therapy is the administration of cytotoxic drugs or anti-angiogenesis agents on a more continuous basis, with a much shorter break period, or none at all, and generally lower doses. There is still much to be learned in this field, especially with regard to optimization of the proper drugs, dose, schedule, and tumor type applications.