SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Early Ovarian Cancer Care Urged

Women with early ovarian cancer who receive expert care have a much better chance of surviving than previously thought, the largest study of the disease so far has concluded.

Ovarian cancer patients whose tumor is found early apparently can also avoid chemotherapy after surgical removal of their tumors without reducing their chances of survival, the study found.

The results “finally give us the handle that we’ve needed in treating early stage ovarian cancer,” said Dr. Harrison Ball of New England Medical Center in Boston, who participated in the research. Previously there was no standard approach, Ball said.

In the new study, among those women whose cancer had not spread beyond the ovaries and who underwent meticulous medical evaluation, the five-year survival rate exceeded 90%.

Previously published survival rates for such patients ranged between 50% and 70%.