Quality of life in ovarian cancer patients receiving maintenance therapy with bevacizumab versus PARPi: a network meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION

Bevacizumab and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) administered as maintenance therapies after platinum-based chemotherapy have shown a progression-free survival benefit in patients with ovarian cancer. However, there is no head-to-head trial comparing the quality of life (QOL) between bevacizumab and PARPi. We conducted a Bayesian network meta-analysis to compare the QOL between bevacizumab and PARPi.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov. were searched for trials reporting QOL in ovarian cancer treated with bevacizumab or PARPi. The primary outcome was the difference in QOL change between bevacizumab and PARPi.

RESULTS

Eight RCTs with a total of 5822 participants were included in our analyses. We found no significant difference in QOL change between patients treated with bevacizumab and those treated with PARPi (SMD = -0.058, 95% CrI -0.431 to 0.331). Subgroup analyses stratified by treatment setting and BRCA status showed no significant influence on the network estimates.

CONCLUSIONS

Both bevacizumab and PARPi demonstrated no significant adverse effects on QOL when compared to standard chemotherapy. There was no clear superiority of one treatment over the other in terms of QOL. The acceptable QOL further supports the benefit of these maintenance treatments for ovarian cancer.

REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (CRD42024607491).