Malignant ascites is frequently found in OC, with about 10% of patients suffering from recurrent OC. More than a third of ovarian cancer patients have ascites at diagnosis, and nearly all have ascites at recurrence. The presence of ascites correlates with peritoneal spread of ovarian cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis of the disease. Malignant ascites acts as a reservoir of a complex mixture of soluble factors and cellular components that provide a tumor-stimulating microenvironment for tumor cells. Ascites -derived malignant cells represent a major source of morbidity and mortality in ovarian cancer patients.  Subpopulations of these tumor cells have increased resistance to therapy and the ability to distal metastasis and recurrence. The anti-angiogenic targeted agents bevacizumab and pazopanib also showed good effects in the symptomatic treatment of malignant ascites OC, significantly prolonging the time to the next paracentesis. Thus, we conclude that further large-scale studies are needed to find out whether the reduction in ascites with these targeted drugs leads to an increase in the duration of tumor-related survival or not.

Ovarian cancer, ascites, targeted therapy, bevizumab, pazopanib