Ovarian cancer

Treatment of Ovarian Cancer

The type of treatment you receive for ovarian cancer will depend partly upon the degree to which the cancer has spread, or what 'stage' it has reached. Staging of the tumour may be assessed by a laparoscopy, where a small incision is made in your abdomen and a laparoscope is used so that your doctor can look at all your organs to see if they contain cancerous growths. Samples of tissue are taken so that a pathologist can investigate further.

The following stages are used to define how far ovarian cancer has spread in the body:

• Stage I: cancer is found in one or both of the ovaries.
• Stage II: cancer is found in one or both ovaries and/or has spread to the uterus, and/or the fallopian tubes (the pathway used by the egg to get from the ovary to the uterus), and/or other body parts within the pelvis.
• Stage III: cancer is found in one or both ovaries and has spread to lymph nodes or to other body parts inside the abdomen, such as the surface of the liver or intestine. (Lymph nodes, which produce and store infection-fighting cells, are found throughout the body.)
• Stage IV: cancer is found in one or both ovaries and has spread outside the abdomen or has spread to the inside of the liver.
• Recurrent or refractory: recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back after it has been treated. Refractory disease means the cancer is no longer responding to treatment.

Types of Treatment

If you have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the first line of treatment is almost always surgery. Indeed, surgery may have been needed to establish the diagnosis. Chemotherapy is often used if the doctor feels that some cancer cells may have been left behind or if there is spread beyond the ovary. Radiotherapy is less commonly used but may be helpful in areas where the cancer cells return.