Loading
High-grade serous cancer is the common, aggressive form of ovarian cancer, now known to start in the fallopian tube. It is treated with surgery and platinum chemotherapy, and maintenance PARP inhibitors have changed its course for the half of patients whose tumours cannot repair DNA properly.
High-grade serous carcinoma arises in the fimbria of the fallopian tube and spreads across the peritoneum before it causes symptoms. Every tumour carries a TP53 mutation; about a fifth have a germline or somatic BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and roughly half are homologous recombination deficient, which makes them exquisitely sensitive to platinum and to PARP inhibitors. Standard care is complete cytoreductive surgery, before or after three cycles of carboplatin-paclitaxel, with bevacizumab in higher-risk disease, then maintenance: olaparib for BRCA-mutant tumours (SOLO-1), niraparib for all comers (PRIMA) or olaparib with bevacizumab for HRD-positive tumours (PAOLA-1). Secondary surgery helps selected patients at first relapse (DESKTOP III), and platinum-resistant disease has gained mirvetuximab soravtansine for folate receptor alpha-high tumours. Germline testing of every patient and risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy in carriers are part of the standard.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. A median is the middle of a group: half the people counted lived longer than the figure shown, and some lived far longer. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Most high-grade ovarian cancers begin at the tip of the fallopian tube; endometrial cancer lines the uterus, cervical cancer starts at the transformation zone; each drains to a different node group.
Same organ: Adenosquamous carcinoma of the cervix, Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix, Bartholin gland carcinoma, Vulvar melanoma, Vaginal melanoma, Low-grade serous ovarian cancer, Clear cell ovarian cancer, Mucinous ovarian cancer, Adult granulosa cell tumour of the ovary, Ovarian cancer, Endometrial cancer, Cervical cancer, Vulvar cancer, Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, Uterine sarcoma, Vaginal cancer, POLE-ultramutated endometrial cancer, Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer, p53-abnormal endometrial cancer, including uterine serous carcinoma, Endometrial cancer with no specific molecular profile, Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, Uterine carcinosarcoma, Early cervical cancer and fertility-sparing surgery, Locally advanced cervical cancer, Recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, Platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, HPV-independent vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (p53-mutant), Vaginal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-associated), Vaginal adenocarcinoma (including DES-associated clear cell adenocarcinoma), Low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (FIGO score 0 to 6), High-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (FIGO score 7 or more, including ultra-high-risk), Placental-site trophoblastic tumour and epithelioid trophoblastic tumour
Complete cytoreductive surgery, primary or after three cycles, with carboplatin-paclitaxel for six cycles; bevacizumab added in stage IV or residual disease.
Olaparib for BRCA-mutant tumours (SOLO-1), niraparib for all comers (PRIMA), olaparib plus bevacizumab for HRD-positive tumours (PAOLA-1).
Secondary cytoreduction in selected patients (DESKTOP III), platinum doublet, PARP inhibitor maintenance if not already used.
Single-agent chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab; mirvetuximab soravtansine for folate receptor alpha-high tumours (MIRASOL); relacorilant with nab-paclitaxel in trials and early approvals.
Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy around age 35 to 45 by gene; opportunistic salpingectomy at other pelvic surgery for everyone.
Country and place are remembered in this browser only. A postcode is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to find coordinates when you press the button; nothing else leaves your device.
Folate receptor alpha testing is now standard in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and mirvetuximab is the preferred treatment for high-expressing tumours, with an eye-care protocol.
Niraparib is approved as first-line maintenance for all comers, making PARP inhibitor maintenance available beyond BRCA-mutated disease, though the benefit in proficient tumours is modest and long-term survival data are neutral.
Women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer should have their tumour tested for BRCA mutations and homologous recombination deficiency, because those who are HRD-positive gain years of additional disease control and better survival from adding olaparib to bevacizumab maintenance. Those who are HRD-negative gain nothing from olaparib in this combination and should not be exposed to its toxicity and cost. HRD testing has become a routine part of ovarian cancer care as a result.
Every woman diagnosed with advanced high-grade ovarian cancer should be tested for BRCA mutations at diagnosis, because those who carry one should receive two years of olaparib after chemotherapy, which greatly extends the time in remission and improves long-term survival. The plateau in the survival curves suggests some patients are cured by this approach. Toxicity is mostly anaemia, fatigue and nausea, and the two-year limit appears sufficient.
This is the reference frequency table for basal-like disease: it explains why PARP inhibitors and platinum, borrowed from ovarian cancer, work in TNBC, and why the PI3K pathway is broken by copy number rather than the hotspot mutations that drugs were designed against.
The homologous recombination deficiency concept, and the case for testing all high-grade serous cancers for BRCA and related defects, come from this dataset.
Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"High-grade serous ovarian cancer" OR ABSTRACT:"High-grade serous ovarian cancer" OR TITLE:"HGSOC" OR ABSTRACT:"HGSOC" OR TITLE:"High-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary, fallopian tube and peritoneum" OR ABSTRACT:"High-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary, fallopian tube and peritoneum") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about High-grade serous ovarian cancer, not a curated reading list.
The targets of this cancer's medicines and the ones linked to it directly.
Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, the expert centres with trials on record, and the centres named on this cancer's subtypes.
One section per setting: the options named, what each is for, the trials behind them, the recorded trade-offs and the questions to ask.
A swollen painful calf, or sudden breathlessness with chest pain; venous thromboembolism including pulmonary embolism is a labelled warning.
Bleeding that does not stop by itself, bleeding from more than one site, or new bruising in several places or one large area.
Sudden severe abdominal pain, a hard or very tender abdomen, or abdominal pain with vomiting and fever. Boxed warning for gastrointestinal perforation on bevacizumab.
Temperature of 38 C or higher, or feeling shivery and unwell even without a fever. Antibody-drug conjugates suppress the bone marrow, and several carry a boxed warning for severe neutropenia.
Blurred vision, dry or gritty eyes, eye pain or light sensitivity; these products carry boxed warnings or requirements for eye examinations before each dose.
Not CYP-metabolised (carboxylesterases), so few pharmacokinetic interactions. Hypertension and tachycardia: monitor blood pressure weekly for 2 months.
See all on the product pages:BevacizumabCarboplatinMirvetuximab soravtansineNiraparibOlaparibPaclitaxel / nab-paclitaxelRucaparib·Printable cards in the navigator
Newly diagnosed? Read the first 60 days with High-grade serous ovarian cancer, then print the one-page appointment sheet with room for the answers.
Print this page for your appointment (your browser's print command). These prompts are for discussion; your clinical team knows your case.
Everything in development, the medicines held by this cancer's subtypes, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record.
Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked.