Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Once the diagnosis has been made, treatment options can be decided.



The treatment for ovarian cancer generally involves combination of two methods - surgery and chemotherapy.

Surgery - As the major side effect of chemotherapy can be infertility, many women who want to preserve their fertility to have children opt for surgery. A surgeon may remove only the organs involved like an ovary or a fallopian tube and other pelvic organs.

1. Tumor de bulking or cytoreduction - In this process a surgeon removes the tumor as much as possible before any other therapy like radiation therapy or chemo therapy.
   
   
   
   The main aim of this process is to increase the patient’s prognosis and survival time.
2. Oophorectomy - This is a surgical procedure which involves removal of one or both the ovaries. Removal of both the ovaries will cause infertility and premature menopause for women that are still menstruating.
   
   
   
   For some early-stage cancers removal of one ovary may be possible and in such situation a women chances to bear children in future will remain.
3. Salpingectomy - This is a surgical procedure which involves removal of one or both fallopian tubes. This procedure is usually combined with other surgical operations which involve removal of ovaries, uterus and omentum.
4. Omentectomy - This is a surgical procedure which involves removal of omentum - abdominal tissue fold which contains nerves, blood vessels, lymph nodes and lymph vessels. 
5. Hysterectomy - This is a surgical procedure which involves removal of the uterus through an incision made in abdomen or through the vagina. This surgery may or may not remove the adjacent tissues near the uterus.
6. In addition to the surgery, a surgeon may also extract some samples of tissues and fluid from the abdomen and other suspicious regions to examine cancer cells and to determine the cancer stage.

Chemotherapy - A person is most likely to be treated with chemotherapy (anti-cancer drugs) after surgery to kill any remaining cancerous cells as a part of ovarian cancer treatments. Chemotherapy involves combination of drugs (carboplatin and paclitaxel) which are injected directly in the blood stream. Most of the experts believe that this combination is very effective and results in longer survival rates as compared to other combinations, however studies continue on ways to improve the method. Common side-effects of chemotherapy include abdominal pain, infections, nausea and vomiting.

A second-look surgery is performed after chemotherapy as one of the treatment of ovarian cancer. This procedure involves examination of fluid sample taken from the abdomen.



The main goal of second-look surgery is to determine whether the surgery and chemotherapy was successful in treating the cancer. Depending on the results additional radiation or chemotherapy may be required.

Radiation therapy is a procedure that use high energy rays to cease the cancer cells to divide and grow. Other treatments like gene therapy, immunotherapy, vaccines and new chemotherapy drugs are also being explored for possible alternative ovarian cancer treatment.