For women with ovarian cancer, chemotherapy delivered through an abdominal catheter may offer them the chance at a longer life than standard treatment does.In a study comparing the intraperitoneal (through the abdomen) method for delivering chemotherapy to the more commonly used intravenous chemotherapy, researchers found that average survival time for women with stage III ovarian cancer could be increased by nearly 16 months -- to an average of 65.6 months -- with intraperitoneal therapy."This is the longest survival reported to date for advanced ovarian cancer,” said study author Dr. Deborah Armstrong, an associate professor of oncology and gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore.In fact, she said, the results were so encouraging that intraperitoneal chemotherapy is now the standard treatment for stage III ovarian cancer with surgically removed tumors at Johns Hopkins. A report on the research appears in the Jan. 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
