Radiology, Vol 153, 17-24, Copyright © 1984 by Radiological Society of North America
Ovarian cancer: contribution of radiation therapy to patient management. Erskine memorial lecture, 1983
RS Bush
Ovarian cancer may be treated with radiation therapy, surgery,
chemotherapy, or a combination. To evaluate the contribution of radiation
therapy to patient management the cure rate must be estimated; data are
presented suggesting that the 5-year survival rate provides a reasonable
estimate of the cure rate. Multiple prognostic factors have been shown to
affect outcome. A study of patients treated since 1971 showed that stage
and postoperative residuum could be used to divide patients into two
subgroups, a "poor prognosis" group and a "good prognosis" group; a
multifactorial grouping of patients in the good prognosis group who were
treated postoperatively with radiation therapy only was further able to
divide patients into low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk groups.
Studies of radiation therapy for different subgroups are discussed;
abdominopelvic irradiation has been shown to improve survival for
approximately one-third of patients with cancer of the ovary.
