According to the Mayo Clinic, 23,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and over 15,000 die from this type of cancer annually. Unfortunately, over three-fourths of the women who develop the disease won't be diagnosed until the cancer reaches the abdomen. There are a variety of treatments available, but most patients will undergo combinations of treatments.
Laparoscopy
A laparoscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that doctors may perform to obtain a sample of the ovarian tumors for biopsy in addition to a diagnosis from a CT scan of the abdomen. Some doctors will use a laparoscopy to determine whether the cancer cells have spread or returned over the course of or after treatment.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the administration of powerful radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors, and is usually the first step of treatment once the presence of cancer has been confirmed. Most chemotherapy consists of six sessions scheduled every three to four weeks.
Hysterectomy
A hysterectomy--removal of the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes--is one of the steps in treating ovarian cancer. Nearby lymph nodes and the omentum, a fold of fatty issue, are usually also removed because these are some of the first sites cancer travels to. Hysterectomies usually are not done until after the first round of chemotherapy so that most of the cancer cells have been eradicated before tissue removal.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy, or radiation therapy, administers a beam of high energy X-rays to destroy cancer cells. This is usually administered in conjunction with chemotherapy and not typically prescribed to patients unless they have Stage 3 or 4 cancer.
Clinical Trial Drugs
Some patients are eligible to participate in clinical drug trials, where they are administered either a cancer-fighting drug or a placebo drug in order for researchers to study the effectiveness of the trial drug.
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