Abstract
Ovarian cancer remains a highly lethal and prevalent disease in the United States currently being the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death for women for the year of 2014. Despite advances in surgical and medical management, this disease usually carries a poor prognosis. Current guidelines to the management and treatment of ovarian cancer outlined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) are utilized by both osteopathic and allopathic physicians to improve the outcome of this disease in their patients, but there has yet to be an integration of the NCCN recommendations and core osteopathic principles. The osteopathic approach to ovarian cancer (OstOCA) described in this paper addresses the treatment and management of ovarian cancer by synthesizing the NCCN’s recommendations and the key principles, evidence-based manipulation techniques, and philosophy of osteopathic medicine. This novel approach holds promise to improve both diagnosis and treatment ovarian cancer and potentially improve outcomes for patients with this disease. Future studies designed to properly test this model in its intended population are the next step into defining a role for osteopathic concepts in the treatment and management of ovarian cancer. Such a study, should it demonstrate benefit, would also open the door for new proposals of protocols for osteopathic management of other neoplastic processes and provide a new frontier for osteopathic medicine and research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 42-50 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Osteopathic Family Physician |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2016 |
Keywords
- OMT
- Osteopathic manipulative treatment
- Ovarian cancer
- Postoperative management
- Prevention