Temoxifin for ovarian cancer

Mt wife is currently suffering from recurrent ovarian cancer stage 3C. Our oncologist prescribed Temoxifin to lower or stabilize her CA125 which is rising at the moment. Her CAT scan is clear so there is no noticable tumor yet. As anyone else had experience with Temoxifin to treat recurring ovarian cancer.

[Raygun]

My wife, too, is dealing with recurrent ovarian.  Since the surgery in July 03 followed by the usual Taxol/Carbo, she tried the Dr Markman Taxol maintenance regime.  This (or maybe it was lasting effects from the initial Carbo - we'll never know for sure) worked for about 7 months.  Her CA125 started rising and we tried Doxil but after two doses, her CA125 was still rising, but at a decreased rate.  However, it wasn't prudent to stay on Doxil, so we switched to Topotecan.  After one cycle, the CA125 reduced by 73%.  We had some more reduction, and the CA125 held steady for a while, but after about 5 months and 7 cycles of Topo, the CA125 started rising again.  Next we tried Gemcitabine and Cisplatin.  However after two cycles, the CA125 is still increasing.  CT confirms activity.  Next step will be a clinical trial.

Bottom line is that Tamoxifen has not been a drug our two oncologists have ever recommended.  I would do a thorough search on the web and make sure that there is solid data from studies to back-up a decision to use Tamoxifen if there are other potentially good alternatives like Doxil and Topotecan available.

[EOPPCsurvivor]

Tamoxifen is a chemo drug normally used as a maintenance drug for breast cancer patients.  It is beginning to receive recognition in the OVCA field as a maintenance drug after first-line treatment.  Some OVCA is estrogen receptive, meaning the the cancer takes in estrogen as part of its development.  Tamoxifen is a drug that blocks the OVCA from getting estrogen.  If tamoxifen is effective for an OVCA patient she may well stay on it for as long as 5 years.

[gpawelski]

Patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, it is often difficult to select an effective treatment because the tumor develops resistance to many drugs. Currently, physicians select a drug and must wait about six months to see whether it is effective on a particular patient. For many cancers, especially after a relapse or when a particular treatment is ineffective, more than one standard treatment exists.

Chemosensitivity testing can help physicians predict whether a patient will respond to a specific drug, much like they test bacteria for sensitivity to antibiotics, called Bacterial Culture and Sensitivity Testing. Chemosensitivity testing is an attempt to do something similar for cancer; fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. It is highly desirable to know what drugs are effective against your particular cancer cells before highly-toxic agents are systemically administered to your body.

Assay-testing is based on a biological principle that when a drug is effective, it will induce apoptosis (cell death) in the cancer cell. If the cancer cell is resistant to a drug, apoptosis will not occur. Assay-testing for apoptosis will determine whether a drug kills the tumor. Chemosensitivity testing (assay-testing) can take the guesswork out of cancer treatment. Patients with refractory cancer and have very limited time left to live, six months can feel like an eternity when they may have to start a whole new course of treatment if the original treatment proves ineffective.