Alopecia as surrogate marker for chemotherapy response in patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer: A metaanalysis of four prospective randomised phase III trials with 5114 patients

Within a large EOC-patient cohort with 1st-line platinum- and taxane-based chemotherapy early onset alopecia appears to be significantly associated with a more favourable outcome in those patients who completed ⩾6 chemotherapy cycles. It remains to be elucidated if early onset alopecia is just a surrogate marker for higher sensitivity to chemotherapy or if other biological effects are underlying.