Dr. Essel Discusses Adverse Events of Bevacizumab in Ovarian Cancer

Kathleen Essel, MD, fellow, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, discusses adverse events (AEs) with bevacizumab (Avastin) in ovarian cancer.

In a study on the long-term use of bevacizumab in patients with ovarian cancer, investigators aimed to characterize the AEs. Essel says that the AEs investigators were the most concerned about prior to the study were cardiovascular events and hypertension. However, Essel says that patients who did not experience an increase in blood pressure initially did not experience it subsequently.

The data provides comfort in the decision to put a patient on long-term bevacizumab, Essel says. If a patient with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer is given chemotherapy based off data from the GOG213 or OCEANS trials and does well, then physicians can feel confident that additional AEs will not come up with continued use of bevacizumab.