Medical Health Encyclopedia

Physical Exam and CA-125 Blood Test. During treatment, the effectiveness of the chemotherapy is evaluated primarily with a physical examination and the CA-125 blood test. Falling CA-125 levels indicate effective treatment and persistently elevated levels indicate resistance to the chemotherapy.

Second Look Laparotomy. Second-look laparotomy is sometimes considered after completion of chemotherapy for patients who are participating in clinical trials.

Comparative CT Scans. Another method for evaluating the success of chemotherapy is to compare CT scans of the pelvis and abdomen before and after chemotherapy to check the size of any residual tumors that persisted after the original surgery. CT scanning is not always required, however.

Text Continues Below

---

Positron Emission Tomography (PET). At present, PET scans have no proven role in the management of patients with ovarian cancer. More study is needed in order to determine its utility in diagnosing relapsed disease.

Investigative Procedures for Increasing Effectiveness

Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy. With this approach chemotherapy can be instilled directly into the abdominal cavity at higher than standard doses. There is no evidence as yet to suggest that it is superior to intravenous therapy. More work is needed.

Hyperthermia. Researchers are investigating hyperthermia, a technique that heats the patients whole body (whole-body hyperthermia) or the abdominal area (called intraperitoneal hyperthermic therapy). Increasing the temperature enhances the body's response to platinum-based agents without increasing their toxicity. Studies are now under way.

Experimental Agents

Patients with any stage of ovarian cancer are candidates for clinical trials. In addition to testing high-dose or combinations of chemotherapy, agents with unique actions are being investigated.