Treatment Plan

Determining which treatment to pursue for ovarian cancer is a joint decision that must be made by you and your physician. Receiving a diagnosis of cancer is an overwhelming experience and making treatment decisions can be confusing.

Write down questions that you want to discuss, or you may wish to have another family member accompany you to the doctor's office. Bring a tape recorder to record your discussions. Don't be afraid to get a second opinion from a gynecologic oncologist before committing to a particular course of treatment.

Treatment options for ovarian cancer

Treatment for ovarian cancer may involve surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy or a combination of these.

Surgery: Surgery is usually the initial treatment for ovarian cancer. Because tissue samples are needed to make the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, a laparotomy (incision into the abdomen) will be performed. If the surgeon determines that the cancer has spread, a procedure known as debulking will most likely be attempted. Tumor debulking reduces the amount of cancer because it may be impossible to completely remove all of it. The remaining cancer is treated later with chemotherapy or occasionally radiation.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs, either by mouth or intravenous injection, to destroy cancer cells. Because these drugs not only affect the cancer cells but also target healthy cells, they may produce unwanted side effects. Medications are available to help control these side effects. Your physician will discuss with you which chemotherapy drugs are most likely to eradicate your remaining cancer.

Chemotherapy is generally administered in cycles, meaning that you will receive the drugs for a specified period of time, followed by a period of time to recover. Chemotherapy may be administered as an outpatient or it may require an overnight hospital stay. Clinical trials, aimed at finding new ways to fight ovarian cancer, are studying the administration of chemotherapy directly into the abdomen (intraperitoneal chemotherapy). It is anticipated that this approach will fight the cancer directly.

Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy involves the delivery of high-energy X-rays to specific cancer sites to stop their growth. In ovarian cancer, radiation therapy can be delivered externally, or from radioactive implants that are placed into the body near the tumor site. External radiation treatments are usually given on an outpatient basis five days a week for about five weeks. Internal radiation treatments require hospitalization. Since chemotherapy has been successful, radiation therapy is less commonly used.

Because the treatment for ovarian cancer is rapidly evolving, all women diagnosed with this disease may want to consider participating in clinical trials. Many clinical trials for ovarian cancer are ongoing. Studies involve new drugs, newer drug dosing and scheduling, and various ways of combining treatments. The National Cancer Institute is a good source for learning about clinical trials.

More on Ovarian Cancer

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.