Ovarian cancer is the gynecological form of cancer that has the highest mortality. Now a new treatment that can prolong survival will be tried in Sweden.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are usually diffuse, which means that the disease is detected so late that it has already spread to the abdominal cavity. Up to 70 percent of those who suffer from ovarian cancer are diagnosed at a stage when the disease has already formed daughter tumors in the abdomen.
The University Hospital in Uppsala is now the first in the country to test a new treatment for the disease, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). The method involves treating widespread ovarian cancer with both surgery and hot chemotherapy in the abdomen.
The cytotoxins are heated
The chemotherapy is heated to about 42 degrees and then circulated in the abdominal cavity to remove cancer cells that may remain. The heat makes the cancer cells more sensitive. The method has been used for a long time against bowel cancer.
Previous studies have shown that combination therapy with HIPEC can prolong survival in ovarian cancer. The treatment at Akademiska sjukhuset is done within the framework of an international study comparing survival after surgery alone.
Those who can participate in the study are women with disseminated ovarian cancer, so-called carcinomatosis, which means that the cancer cells have spread to the other ovary, fallopian tubes, uterus and peritoneum. They are then randomized to either standard treatment with surgery or surgery with the addition of HIPEC.
“Great importance”
“The results of the study can be of great importance. If it turns out that survival is prolonged, the guidelines for treatment will probably change, “says Marta Lomnytska, chief physician at the gynecology clinic at the University Hospital and researcher at Uppsala University, in a press release.
The study is expected to last until the year 2025. The researchers will investigate the difference in survival between the groups and also analyze differences in relapse, quality of life and health economic.
Facts
Ovarian cancer (ovarian cancer)
More than 600 women in Sweden get ovarian cancer every year. About 550 of them die from the disease.
In ovarian cancer, you have a cancerous tumor on the ovary, in one of the fallopian tubes or in the part of the peritoneum that is close to the ovaries or fallopian tubes.
The disease is most common in women over 50 years. Most of the victims are over 60 years old.
The symptoms are diffuse, with for example stomach pain and swollen stomach, which makes the disease difficult to detect.
Other symptoms include early feeling of fullness, constipation, intercourse pain and urination.
Source: Uppsala University Hospital, Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
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