Hormone therapy can extend life in ovarian cancer patients

Ovarian Cancer or Cancer of the ovary is a disease in which cancer (malignant) cells are found in the ovary. Approximately 25,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with this disease each year.

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Hormone therapy can extend life in ovarian cancer patients

Ovarian Cancer :: Hormone therapy can extend life in ovarian cancer patients

The targeted use of an anti-estrogen drug could prolong the life of some ovarian cancer patients by up to three years, and delay the use of chemotherapy in others, revealed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

The study is published in Clinical Cancer Research.

Letrozole hormone therapy attacks cancer by turning off its estrogen supply. But scientists now believe that in those ovarian cancers which are highly sensitive to estrogen, this blocking mechanism could slow the growth and spread of disease.

The study was funded by Cancer Research UK and involved 44 women with high estrogen receptor (ER) levels, whose cancer had relapsed after surgery and chemotherapy.

Scientists used a blood-borne tumour marker, CA-125, to track the progress of tumours during hormone treatment. They discovered that one quarter of the women showed no tumour growth after six months of anti-estrogen therapy, and 33 per cent of the group with the greatest ER values showed a positive response which delayed the use of chemotherapy.

John F. Smyth, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Edinburgh, led the research programme.

Ovarian cancer is the most commonly fatal of gynaecological cancers, affecting 1 in 48 women. Nearly 7,000 new cases are diagnosed in the UK each year.

Current treatment involves surgery and chemotherapy, but most ovarian cancers return within two years. Until now, further treatment options have been limited to a second course of chemotherapy, with serious implications for quality of life. It is hoped hormone treatment could offer life-extension with negligible side effects.

(Published at www.spiritindia.com on Sunday, June 17, 2007)
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