Abstract Paclitaxel and carboplatin combination chemotherapy
has remained the standard of care in the frontline
therapy of advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma
during the last decade. Maintenance chemotherapy or
immunotherapy has not been proven to impact on overall
survival and only one clinical trial that explored the
administration of monthly paclitaxel for 1 year showed a
benefit in terms of progression-free survival (PFS), but at
the cost of maintained alopecia and increased peripheral
neuropathy. This scenario may be changing with the
incorporation of targeted therapy to the frontline therapy of
ovarian cancer. In particular, anti-angiogenic therapy has
been identified as the most promising targeted therapy, and
the addition of bevacizumab to first-line chemotherapy
followed by a maintenance period of bevacizumab in
monotherapy has shown to prolong PFS. This was considered
the proof of concept of the value of anti-angiogenic
therapy in the frontline of ovarian cancer, and the results of
two additional clinical trials with anti-angiogenic tyrosinekinase
inhibitors have shown results in the same direction