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By Julie Marks, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- This year, about 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It's often called the "silent killer" because symptoms don't appear until the cancer is in its late stages.
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The good news is many ovarian cancer patients respond to treatments and go into remission quickly. The bad news is the cancer often comes back with deadly consequences.
In fact, the cancer returns for about 80 percent of the women who go into remission. Robert Holloway, M.D., a gynecologic oncologist, from the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute in Orlando, Fla., told Ivanhoe, "Some of the most intense areas of research right now are to try and figure out how to take women who are in remission and keep them there don't let them relapse."
Now, researchers are studying a new therapy for women who go into remission. The drug catumaxomab is infused directly into the abdomen through a port. It targets tumor cells and stimulates several immune reactions that may play a part in destroying cancer cells.
"I can say that, in the patients I treated, we have seen an immune response," says Dr. Holloway, who is also the principle investigator of the study.
Patients are given four injections of catumaxomab for one month. So far, researchers have enrolled about 36 patients in the clinical trial and are hopeful that the drug will extend remission time. Side effects of the therapy include flu-like symptoms.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Robert Holloway, M.D.
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