Majority of ovarian cancers are found in adult women. The median age for ovarian cancers is between the age of 50 and 60 years. While ovarian cancers represent the seventh most common tumors in women, they are the most common cause of death in women who develop gynecologic cancers.
Ovarian cancers have no specific signs or symptoms, particularly at the early stage of the disease.
The high percentage of mortality in the advanced stage of disease has required essential modifications in the therapeutic approach of ovarian cancer. On one hand, surgery has become more aggressive in the staging procedures, in the removal of the tumor and in the systematic application of the second look laparotomy. On the other hand, chemotherapy has been systematically applied and has gained a fundamental role in the therapeutic approach of ovarian cancer. Drugs such as platinum compounds, doxorubicin and taxanes, together with alkylating agents, have the highest antitumor activity in ovarian cancer. The activity of several classes of antitumor agents has led to the extensive use of combination chemotherapy.