The radiation oncologist may repeat this application two weeks later in some patients depending on the dose of radiation therapy that needs to be delivered to the cancer. When the cancer is too large to be removed with surgery or when it has extended beyond the cervix, radiation therapy is the best treatment. Recent studies have shown a better outcome from treatment when weekly doses of chemotherapy with a drug called cisplatin are combined with pelvic radiation therapy. Women with early cancer of the cervix who are treated with either radical hysterectomy or radiation therapy can expect a greater than 75 percent probability of being cancer free five years later. The prognosis is not as good when the cancer is very large at initial diagnosis or has spread beyond the cervix, but many of these women will be cured with newer treatment approaches that use radiation therapy, chemotherapy and, sometimes, surgery.
Most ovarian cancers develop from the surface of the ovary.
The cancer cells then spread from the ovary to the lining of the abdominal cavity. Ovarian cancer has been called the silent killer because even small cancers in the ovary can spread beyond the ovary making the disease difficult to detect in its early stages. Screening for ovarian cancer has not been successful. Currently, the best approach to early diagnosis is a high index of suspicion by both a woman and her physician combined with a careful pelvic examination, serial CA-125 tests and transvaginal ultrasonography. Even with this approach, physicians still will not be able to diagnose many women with ovarian cancer until it has spread beyond the ovary into the upper abdomen.