Melissa Thrall, MD
University of Washington
A population based evaluation of the use and outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy
The current standard of care for the treatment of advanced stage ovarian cancer involves surgery with a maximal effort to remove all visible tumor followed by the administration of platinum based chemotherapy. However not all women with advanced ovarian cancer are treated according to clinical guidelines, and delay in surgery for the administration of chemotherapy may result in worse outcomes. Dr. Thrall’s study aims to evaluate factors associated with this variation in care and how this impacts the outcomes of women with advanced ovarian cancer in a large population based sample of patient treated in the last 10 years.