Follow-up in Gynecological Malignancies: A State of Art (open access)

 GENERAL ISSUES

The main concerns about follow-up could be summarized as: Who? When? How? And What?

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 Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of this article is to explore the current practice for follow-up of gynecological cancer, pointing out the different procedures, to determine the most clinically and cost-effective surveillance strategies after the primary treatment.

Materials and Methods: We analyzed the follow up strategies for ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer. All of the topics discussed below arose from the “ESGO State of Art Conference—Follow-up in gynaecological malignancies” in Turin, (September 11–13, 2014; http://torino2014.esgo.org/).

Results: Physical but these practices should be integrated with biomarkers or imaging strategies. Currently, most recommendations about follow-up are based on retrospective studies and expert opinion, and there is some disagreement on surveillance strategies due to lack of evidence-based knowledge.

Conclusions: All surveillance procedures should be evidence-based with a clearly defined purpose: there is a need for prospective studies to compare the effectiveness of different follow-up regimens measuring overall survival, detection of recurrence, quality of life (QoL), and costs as outcomes.