Beta-Blockers Boost Survival in Ovarian Ca

Medpage

 Action Points

• This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Patients with advanced ovarian cancer had significantly better survival if they took beta-blockers, particularly the noncardioselective agents.
• Note that the survival difference more than doubled to a median survival of almost 8 years in the subgroup of patients treated with nonselective beta-blockers.

"....The study provides "provocative information" regarding potential novel therapeutic applications of beta-blockers in the treatment of ovarian cancer, said invited discussant Laura Havrilesky, MD, of Duke University. In particular, the findings pertaining to nonselective beta-blockers warrant further study.
However, Havrilesky emphasized several limitations of the retrospective chart review, including the absence of a comparison of demographic and clinical variables for users of nonselective versus selective beta-blockers. Moreover, the investigators did not perform a multivariate analysis to identify factors that might have explained the results.
"There remains a significant risk of selection bias and other confounders that may have accounted for some of the survival differences observed," Havrilesky said."