Not only does it prolong survival, but it does so without affecting patients’ quality of life. The latest results from the study that analyzed the action of olaparib, a drug belonging to the class that is revolutionizing the treatment of ovarian cancer, complete the picture of the knowledge generated by the trial called Solo1 and were published by Lancet Oncology. “We did not have the certainty, we could not have it, that two more years of therapy in addition to classical platinum chemo would not worsen the daily life of our patients, but now we know that all the quality of life indices, for a clear majority of women involved in the study, are not modified by olaparib: excellent news for patients ”, said Giovanni Scambia, Scientific Director and Director of the Women’s Health and Oncological Gynecology Area of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, co-author of the study.
The results
Ovarian cancer, to which an in-depth analysis is dedicated in the monthly Health on newsstands starting from April 29, is one of the main causes of death from cancer in women all over the world, with a five-year survival rate of 19%. For newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer, the main aim of treatment is to delay the progression of the disease for as long as possible while maintaining a good quality of life for patients. Understanding if in fact this is the way things go, that is, if and to what extent maintenance with olaparib affects the life of those who take it, was the aim of the paper in Lancet Oncology. That the drug increases survival has now been established, and in fact it is approved by AIFA as a maintenance treatment for advanced ovarian cancer with a BRCA genetic mutation.
The latest results, on the other hand, explore the quality of life and were obtained through questionnaires administered over the course of two years of treatment. In detail, the ability to move was not affected for 75% of the women, self-care did not change for 85% of them, daily activities remained the same for 65% of the patients, pain or malaise and anxiety or depression were not detected in 59% in 52% of the sample respectively.
The “revolution” of the inhibitory parp
“This latest study completes a panorama that is becoming increasingly clear in ovarian cancer therapy, a therapy that parp inhibitors are revolutionizing. And they are doing it on two levels. In the sense of personalizing treatments, introducing the possibility of treatments built on the molecular characteristics of cancer: the presence of a mutation in the BRCA genes ”, explains Scambia again. “And in the sense of prevention, which is equally important. The parp inhibitors are leading to the widespread control of the BRCA mutation, which in turn has a positive implication that goes beyond the individual patient with cancer: if a woman with ovarian cancer does, as in fact always does, the genetic test for detect any positivity to the changed BRCA – explains the expert – and it is positive on the test, the other women in her family will do it too, and if they too are carriers of the same mutation they can do prevention, which is a fundamental issue ” .
Prevention
All the more so since there are no national screening programs for ovarian cancer and that it is a disease that in the initial stages does not give symptoms, and when it does, they are common signals to other non-serious diseases, first of all. gastrointestinal disorders, which are therefore easily underestimated. But – according to the opinion of the experts and the conclusions of published studies – an annual visit to the gynecologist who performs the palpation of the abdomen and a control transvaginal ultrasound can facilitate an early diagnosis.
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