Preliminary results indicate that CA125 may be able to predict ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women. Because of the lack of distinguishable clinical symptoms during the early stages of ovarian cancer, a large majority of cases are not discovered until the disease has reached an advanced stage and the prognosis for survival is poor. The five year survival rate for Stage III patients is 12 percent, and for Stage IV patients the rate is less than 5 percent. In general, treatment involves removal of the ovaries and in many cases the fallopian tubes and uterus. Depending on the stage, patients may also undergo chemotherapy, radiation or both.
Recent research indicates that if ovarian cancer is detected early, a cure is possible.
Therefore, most Stage I patients can be spared the risks and side effects of chemotherapy and still achieve an excellent survival rate. Unfortunately, taxol is in short supply from its natural source and difficult to synthesize using current chemical technology. NCI has given a high priority to improving procurement of this drug, identifying easier to obtain analogues, and developing a synthetic version of taxol. Boring, Catherine C. et al. Cancer Statistics, 1992.