NCCN Updates Ovarian Cancer Guidelines

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., February 26, 2008 — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is pleased to announce several new updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ Ovarian Cancer. These changes highlight leading developments in the treatment of ovarian cancer and represent the recognized standard for clinical care in oncology in both the community and the academic practice settings.

Patients with ovarian cancer were once thought to exhibit no symptoms during the early stage of the disease. But recent studies have shown that a specific set of symptoms are more common in women with ovarian cancer than women in the general population. This early-symptom list, collected and codified by the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, has been incorporated into the NCCN Ovarian Cancer Guidelines. Symptoms suggestive of ovarian cancer include: bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and urinary symptoms such as urgency or frequency. Awareness of the possible significance of these symptoms may enable earlier identification of women with ovarian cancer, even those with early-stage cancer.

The other major update to these guidelines is that the treatment regimens for ovarian cancer, germ cell tumors and ovarian stromal tumors have been expanded to include new chemotherapeutic agents, to indicate which agents are preferred and to clarify which agents should be used for specific tumors.