The EOLO (End-of-Life Ovarian Cancer) Study: Approach to ovarian cancer patients at the end of life

Background: Chemotherapy at the end of life is a complex and challenging problem in medical oncology. Patients affected by ovarian cancer (OC) often experience a chronicization and slow progression of their disease, and chemotherapy is proposed until the end of life. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients affected by OC treated at our department and having died in the period between 2007 and 2017 and evaluated the frequency of antineoplastic treatments until the end of life, the chemotherapy-related toxicity, mortality, and the most frequent palliative care measure adopted. Results: A total of 110 OC deaths, after a median overall patient survival of 52.8 months (range 4-232), were analyzed. 77.3% of the patients presented with FIGO stage IIIC OC at diagnosis and 12.7% with FIGO stage IV OC. 89% of the histological types were serous papillary. The median age was 55 years (range 31-82) at diagnosis and 60 years (range 33-84) at death. Of the 110 patients analyzed, 85 (77%) had undergone chemotherapy over the last 3 months of life and 38% had chemotherapy even during the last month of life. The overwhelming majority of patients (81%) needed supportive therapies. Despite the treatments received, the majority of the patients died at home, 19% died in hospital, and only 4.5% died in hospice. The quality of life of these patients decreased dramatically in the last 30 days, but best supportive care improved the symptoms. Conclusions: End-of-life chemotherapy for OC patients is a thorny problem. More studies and a multidisciplinary approach are needed to better treat these patients.