Hormone therapy in epithelial ovarian cancer

Although epidemiologic studies, animal experiments and receptor studies hav e shown that not only normal ovaries but also many malignant ovarian tumors can be considered as endocrine related and hormone dependent, the place of hormonal therapy in the management of patients with ovarian cancer remains unsettled. Most trials of hormonal treatment in ovarian cancer have been r etrospective, involved only limited numbers of patients, and lacked importa nt patient-related data and information pertaining to tumor characteristics . In addition, a variety of hormonal preparations with different degrees of potency and in different dosages were included in these studies. A literat ure review shows that response to hormonal therapy even in a preterminal se tting, is modest, with about 8% objective response but almost no side effec ts. In a similar patient setting, more toxic therapeutic agents do not yiel d a better response. The place of hormonal therapy in the management of pat ients with epithelial ovarian cancer needs more thorough evaluation in well -designed randomized trials.