Primary Surgery and Chemotherapy Improve Ovarian Cancer Survival

Recommendations for optimal treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer include primary surgical staging accompanied by adjuvant chemotherapy as indicated. However, it is not clear that all patients are treated optimally. Investigators used 1994–1996 data from the California Cancer Registry to evaluate factors affecting outcome.

Of 1491 patients (mean age, 65), only about one third received care from gynecologic oncologists. Patients seen by gynecologic oncologists were more affluent, more educated, and more likely to live in urban areas than patients who were not. Those seen by gynecologic oncologists were more likely to have initial surgery (92% vs. 69%) and to receive chemotherapy (90% vs. 70%) and had longer 5-year disease-specific survival (…