Ovarian cancer: state of the art and future directions.

The median survival of patients with ovarian cancer has increased steadily, mainly due to a multidisciplinary approach including surgery and chemotherapy. This editorial article summarizes the important messages taken from clinical research performed in this field over the last 15 years. It deals with the following issues: screening, prevention, management of early and advanced disease, maintenance/consolidation therapies and the treatment of relapsing patients. It also gives some future directions with the hope to improve the management and the outcome of this highly lethal disease.