Ovarian cancer patients and hormone replacement therapy: a systematic review

Objective. Although the majority of patients with ovarian cancer are menopausal, approximately one-third are premenopausal at the time of diagnosis. Little information is available concerning the impact of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the clinical outcomes of patients previously treated for ovarian cancer. The objective of this review is to determine whether there is any adverse impact on survival among women with ovarian cancer on HRT. Methods. A protocol was developed in advance of commencement of this systematic review. It detailed the plan for the search strategy, selection criteria for studies, and methods for data collection and analysis. No limitation of study design was made, and the details of the search strategy are described in the text of the review. Two reviewers independently evaluated the eligibility of all studies and abstracted the data. Results. One randomized trial and two observational studies are included. Due to methodological heterogeneity of the included studies, results have not been pooled in a meta-analysis. The randomized trial presented differences between the intervention and control groups on median overall survival (44 months vs. 34 months/HRT vs. No-HRT) and disease-free survival (34 months vs. 27 months/HRT vs. No-HRT) that were not significant. Similarly, there were nonsignificant differences in survival and recurrence rates in the two included cohort studies. Conclusions. This is a comprehensive systematic review of the evidence concerning HRT in ovarian cancer patients. Until more evidence becomes available, it appears that HRT is acceptable for patients with ovarian cancer as part of supportive and symptomatic therapy.