Ovarian cancer patients may benefit from pelvic radiotherapy

"Despite the intense therapeutic and surgical regimen typically used to treat ovarian cancer, outcomes remain poor," said William Small Jr., MD, chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, LUHS. "This study provided encouraging preliminary results for the use of RT in women with ovarian cancer."

The study evaluated 56 patients with ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA), an aggressive form of ovarian cancer that is more likely to be resistant to chemotherapy and to have a poorer prognosis than other forms of this disease.

All but one patient in the study received chemotherapy for a median of six cycles. Six patients received pelvic RT and 50 did not. Ovarian cancer initially recurred in the pelvis of 25 percent of patients while nearly 11 percent had disease recurrence outside of the pelvis. Rates of recurrence were 28 percent, 39 percent and 43 percent at three-, five- and eight-year follow-up points, respectively. The study demonstrated a trend toward a reduction in the incidence of tumor recurrence in patients who had pelvic RT.

"Pelvic RT after chemotherapy may be more beneficial in treating this form of ovarian cancer compared with other types," Dr. Small said. "However, additional research is needed to further evaluate the therapy for this type of ovarian cancer."