Women with advanced ovarian cancer and physicians who treat them received important news this past year.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) and five other medical societies and women's advocacy groups jointly recommended that post-surgical treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women with optimal cancer removal involve two methods: intravenous, or IV, chemotherapy delivered into the vein and intraperitoneal, or IP, chemotherapy delivered directly into the abdomen or peritoneal cavity.

The recommendation came after a national clinical trial found that women who received the combination IV/IP chemotherapy after surgery survived on average 66 months, or 5.5 years. This compared to an average of 50 months, or 4.2 years, survival for women who received only IV therapy.

Cancer Center member Linda Carson, M.D., was the principal investigator at the University of Minnesota for the national IV/IP therapy clinical trial. Carson is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health at the University of Minnesota.

"This finding is truly a major advancement in the treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer," says Carson.

Two points that Carson says need to be emphasized to women diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer and their primary care physicians are:

1. Effective surgical removal of the tumor is critical to long-term survival from ovarian cancer. Women should seek or be referred to a gynecologic oncologist who has expertise in the staging and removal of ovarian cancer.
2. After surgery, a woman with optimally debulked stage III ovarian cancer should be counseled about the potential benefits of IV and IP chemotherapy so she can make an informed decision about her treatment.

This clinical trial's results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Carson was a co-author of the article.

---

This article was originally published in the University of Minnesota Cancer Center 2006 Annual Report (PDF).