January 16, 2006, 10:54 PM CT

Preferred Method of Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, today issued an announcement encouraging therapy with anticancer drugs via two methods, after surgery, for women with advanced ovary cancer. The combined methods, which deliver drugs into a vein and directly into the abdomen, extend overall survival for women with advanced ovary cancer by about a year.

The clinical announcement to surgeons and other medical professionals who treat women with ovary cancer was made with the support of six professional societies and advocacy groups. The announcement coincides with publication in the New England Journal of Medicine* of the results of a large clinical trial by Deborah Armstrong, M.D., medical oncologist and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Md., and her colleagues in an NCI-supported research network known as the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). This is the eighth trial evaluating the use of chemotherapy delivered into the abdomen for ovary cancer. Together, these trials show a significant improvement in survival for women with advanced ovary cancer.

The two therapy methods are called intravenous, or IV, for chemotherapy delivered into a vein and intraperitoneal, or IP, for chemotherapy delivered into the abdominal, or peritoneal, cavity. The Armstrong trial involved 429 women with stage III ovary cancer who were given chemotherapy following the successful surgical removal of tumors. It compared two therapy regimens: 1) IV paclitaxel followed by IV cisplatin, to 2) IV paclitaxel followed by IP cisplatin and the subsequent administration of IP paclitaxel.........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink


January 9, 2006, 11:39 PM CT

Abdominal Chemo Boosts Survival In Ovarian Cancer Patients

50-year-old method for delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen is making a comeback as researchers have found that it increases survival - by more than a year - in some women with advanced ovary cancer. Results from a seven-year study of more than 400 patients nationwide are published in the January 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Investigators randomly grouped women with newly diagnosed stage III ovary cancer into two categories: those who would get all chemotherapy intravenously or those who would get chemotherapy both intravenously and through a spaghetti-like tube called a catheter that was inserted directly into the abdomen.

"The catheter allows us to bathe the entire abdominal area with a high concentration of chemotherapy for a long period of time, which appears to be better at destroying lingering cancer cells," says Deborah Armstrong, M.D., associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and principal investigator for the study, which was conducted by the Gynecologic Oncology Group. While the abdominal area is the main site for ovary cancer spread, Armstrong says that the intravenous round of chemotherapy is needed to catch cancer cells that may have spread outside the abdomen.

Overall survival for 205 patients receiving abdominal (or intraperitoneal) chemotherapy in the study was an average of 65.6 months, a 25 percent improvement over the intravenous-only group (49.7 months) of 210 patients. Similarly, relapse-free survival for those receiving intraperitoneal chemo was 23.8 months compared with 18.3 months for the intravenous-alone group, a 20 percent improvement.........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink


December 25, 2005, 10:32 AM CT

Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

Medicineworld wishes all our readers merry Christmas.

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh........

Daniel      Permalink

New Ovarian Cancer Clinical Study Yale (December 2, 2005)

Molecular Differences between Low-Grade and High-Grade Ovarian Cancers (November 23, 2005)

Predicting Chemotherapy Response In Ovarian Cancer Patients (November 16, 2005)

Ovarian Cancer Screening Using Ultrasound and CA125 Causes Many False Positives (November 7, 2005)

NCI To Launch Ovarian Cancer Clinical Trial (October 2, 2005)

Bevacizumab is effective in ovary cancer (September 25, 2005)

Promising Ovarian Cancer Drug Under Study    (March 28, 2005)