Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Ovarian Cancer (Expert Forum)
Second Look Surgery / Consolidation Chemotherapy
Answered by
Annekathryn Goodman, M.D. - Gynecologic Cancers, Complex Gynecologic, Surgeries, Palliative Care, Acupuncture
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Boston - MA
Second Look Surgery / Consolidation Chemotherapy
by LisaLisa1, Aug 16, 2006 12:00AM
Background: 37 years old, Stage 3B, ca-125 before surgery over 1500, currently at 6. Six cycles of Carbo/Taxol completed. Doctor is mentioning second look surgery and suggesting consolidation chemotherapy by IP directly into the abdomen. Would like to know your thoughts on this. Thanks!
Doctor's Answer
by Annekathryn Goodman, M.D., Aug 18, 2006 12:00AM
, Aug 18, 2006 12:00AM
Hi Lisa,
It sounds like you are in a good place. It is great that your CA 125 is 6. The standard of care is to just do check ups after 6 to 8 cycles of carbo and taxol.
However, there is definitely a risk that your cancer can come back. We have been struggling with this issue for decades and still have not come up with good solutions for consolidation chemotherapy. All sorts of things have been tried. IP chemo, IP interferon, radiation, targeted monclonal antibodies and so forth. In carefully done clinical trials, none of these therapies has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence or dying from the cancer.
The most recent clincial trial was published last year by Dr Maurie Markman. His group gave women another year of monthly taxol chemotherapy. He reported that this reduced the risk of recurrence significantly. It has been argued that women just were on chemotherapy a year longer with lots more toxicity without truly improving survival. There has been alot of debate about his study in the oncology community. Some oncologists do recommend his protocol and others feel it is better to wait and give chemotherpay only for those who develop a recurrence. You should talk to your oncologist about this and see where he stands.
best wishes.
It sounds like you are in a good place. It is great that your CA 125 is 6. The standard of care is to just do check ups after 6 to 8 cycles of carbo and taxol.
However, there is definitely a risk that your cancer can come back. We have been struggling with this issue for decades and still have not come up with good solutions for consolidation chemotherapy. All sorts of things have been tried. IP chemo, IP interferon, radiation, targeted monclonal antibodies and so forth. In carefully done clinical trials, none of these therapies has been shown to reduce the risk of recurrence or dying from the cancer.
The most recent clincial trial was published last year by Dr Maurie Markman. His group gave women another year of monthly taxol chemotherapy. He reported that this reduced the risk of recurrence significantly. It has been argued that women just were on chemotherapy a year longer with lots more toxicity without truly improving survival. There has been alot of debate about his study in the oncology community. Some oncologists do recommend his protocol and others feel it is better to wait and give chemotherpay only for those who develop a recurrence. You should talk to your oncologist about this and see where he stands.
best wishes.
Recent Videos
RSS
Expert Activity
Related Expert Forums
Related Communities
