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Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Teleconference Featured Johns Hopkins University Doctor.
www.ovariancancer.org - October 31, 2001

More than 800 people from across the globe tuned in Oct. 30 to hear the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance's free teleconference, "Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: State-of-the-Art Treatments."

The Alliance and Cancer Care Inc. joined forces to present the teleconference workshop for women living with ovarian cancer, their friends and family. The program was made possible by an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline Oncology.

The featured speaker was Dr. Deborah K. Armstrong, Assistant Professor of Oncology, Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Armstrong spoke for 30 minutes about the realistic goals of and options for treating recurrence, and then answered callers' questions for the second half of the teleconference.

During her talk, Armstrong stressed that because many health care professionals are now treating recurrent ovarian cancer as a chronic disease, the goals of this treatment are to prolong remission, delay progression of the disease, control the symptoms and improve or maintain the patient's quality of life.

The main factors in treating recurrence are: 1. length of the "treatment-free interval," or the time between therapy and relapse; 2. amount of prior treatments and accumulative toxicity from those treatments; and 3. other health concerns that may limit treatment options, such as gastro-intestinal problems. According to Armstrong, the efficacy of using chemotherapy drugs that a patient has already used in the past depends upon the length of the "treatment-free interval," noting that it is not a matter of choosing which drug to administer but rather choosing the correct sequence of multiple drugs.

She also discussed the value of radiation therapy, surgery, and non-chemotherapeutic agents such as antibodies and enzyme inhibitors. Participating in clinical trials at all points of disease is highly encouraged. Armstrong also urged women to seek out information about treatment options and to ask their health care team any questions they may have so that the patient can be actively involved in the decision-making process.

She stressed that the question of when and how to treat recurrence is one that should be made by both the patient and her health care team, based upon her individual CA 125 levels, physical exams, and quality of life issues.