Second thoughts about second-look laparotomy in advanced ovarian cancer

Article Abstract:

In patients who have had surgery for advanced ovarian cancer, second-look laparotomy is frequently done after chemotherapy or radiation treatment has been given in order to assess whether any cancer remains. But while second-look laparotomy has become standard practice in these cases, its routine use has recently become controversial. Laparotomy, or abdominal surgery, is a major operation. Patients may remain in the hospital for anywhere from six days to six weeks. A complication that affects 70 percent of patients is a prolonged postoperative ileus, the failure of the intestines to function. Until the ileus resolves, patients cannot eat and thus nutrition may suffer. During surgery, blood transfusions may be required, and infrequently a life-threatening complication, such as heart failure, may result. Thus for second-look laparotomy to be a worthwhile risk, it must offer important benefits; the procedure must be able to determine very accurately whether residual cancer remains, and this information must lead to treatment decisions that improve the chance of survival. The authors suggest that second-look laparotomy does not provide these benefits. Many research studies have reported that one-third of women who are thought to be free of cancer at the second-look surgery do later develop a recurrence of the disease. Also it has not been established that treatment decisions resulting from information revealed in the second operation help patients live longer. A large study is needed to further evaluate second-look laparotomy. Until such data are available, women with advanced ovarian cancer should be told that the health and financial costs of this procedure may outweigh its possible benefits. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Evaluation, Surgery, Ovarian cancer, Cancer, Abdomen, Laparotomy, Surgery, Unnecessary, Unnecessary surgery

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Vascular targeting as a strategy for cancer therapy

Article Abstract:

Cancer researchers are actively trying to find ways to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to tumors and nowhere else. This could be done if proteins could be found on cancer cells that do not exist on normal cells. One method that takes advantage of this difference is vascular targeting. It relies on the fact that the blood vessels supplying tumors may have proteins that are not present on normal blood vessels. A probe that will bind to that protein could be linked to a drug and given intravenously. The probe-drug combination will travel through the blood stream and be taken up only by the tumor.

Tumors, Tumor blood vessels

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A magic bullet for cancer -- how near and how far?

Article Abstract:

Research on immunotoxins may lead to the creation of drugs that can target cancer cells without damaging healthy cells. An immunotoxin is created by combining a human antibody to a tumor antigen with a toxic substance. The antibody binds to the tumor cells and the toxin destroys them.

Editorial, Antibody-toxin conjugates, Immunotoxins

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