Clinical features and treatment outcome of patients with epithelial carcinoma of the ovary metastatic to the central nervous system
Article Abstract:
Epithelial carcinoma of the ovary (a form of ovarian cancer) metastasizes, or spreads, extensively, but in spite of this, few reports of ovarian cancer patients with central nervous system involvement appear in the medical literature. Nevertheless, metastasis to the brain appears to be increasing among these patients. A report of six patients with these complications is provided. Their average age was 61 years; all had been treated by surgical removal of diseased tissue and chemotherapy. One patient had also undergone radiation treatment. The patients' central nervous symptoms included confusion, headache, weakness, incontinence, gait disorders, hearing difficulty, and seizures. Computerized tomographic (X-ray) scans showed the presence of metastases in the brain. These were treated with corticosteroid drugs and radiation to the whole brain, which resulted in partial or complete resolution of symptoms in five patients. However, none survived longer than two years from the time the central nervous symptoms were diagnosed, and four survived one year or less (average survival, 10 months). Chemotherapy did not appear to prolong survival. Metastasis to the central nervous system presents special treatment problems, since the blood-brain barrier (a structural obstacle) prevents the entry into the brain of chemotherapeutic agents from the circulation. However, as such spread becomes more common, the development of better treatment becomes more imperative. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0029-7844
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Serum CA 125 antigen levels and disease severity in patients with endometriosis
Article Abstract:
Tumor-associated antigens are antigens on the surface of tumor cells that do not occur on normal cells of the same origin. The levels of CA 125, a kind of carbohydrate tumor-associated antigen, were measured in 52 women with endometriosis, the presence of endometrial tissue (tissue from the membrane of the uterus) in abnormal locations, and in eight women with normal pelvic examinations in order to determine if CA 125 levels indicated the severity of the endometriosis. CA 125 levels increased as the severity of the disease increased. In addition, women with mild and moderate levels of disease also had higher levels of CA 125 than women with normal pelvises. CA 125 levels may offer a useful method of monitoring the progress of endometriosis.
Publication Name: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0029-7844
Year: 1989
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Current treatment of patients surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Improving Survival From Sudden Cardiac Arrest: The Role of the Automated External Defibrillator
- Abstracts: Management of fever in patients with cancer and treatment-induced neutropenia. Side effects of adjuvant treatment of breast cancer
- Abstracts: Editorial comment. Management of hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as obstructive jaundice. Is reperitonealization of the gallbladder bed a ritual or necessity?
- Abstracts: Pregnancy outcome of patients with uncorrected uterine anomalies managed in a high-risk obstetric setting
- Abstracts: Insulinoma complicating pregnancy presenting with hypoglycemic coma after delivery: a case report and review of the literature