The present report is a population-based description of the epidemiologic pathology and prognosis of ovarian cancer, and provides evidence of a significant improvement of survival over the past decade. This may be due to changed diagnostic methods (e.g., ultrasonography), improved surgical approach, (platinum-based) chemotherapy, or a combination of all these factors.

Between April 1981 and June 1985, 195 patients with ovarian cancer, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Stages IIB, IIC, III, and IV, entered a trial that consisted of surgery and chemotherapy with cisplatin (P) and melphalan (PAM) with or without hexamethylmelamine (HexaPAMP or PAMP regimens) every 4 weeks for 6 cycles. Because the intent was to study the outcome by treatment after evaluation of first-line chemotherapy, patients were evaluable only if the response was assessed by a second-look operation or if measurable disease progression was documented. One hundred fifty-eight patients (81%) were evaluable for response. Forty-five (28%) achieved pathologically confirmed complete remissions (pCR), and 24 of these patients received whole-abdominal radiation (WAR) for consolidation of response. Five patients with complete remission after WAR relapsed, as did nine of the 21 with complete remission who had not undergone WAR. The 3-year time to progression percentage (TTP +/- SE) from second-look operation was 70% +/- 7% for all patients who achieved pCR, 83% +/- 8% for those who received WAR, and 49% +/- 15% for those who did not receive WAR (this was not a randomized comparison). The 3-year TTP percentage for the 49 partial responders was 21% +/- 6%, identical for the 19 who had WAR and the 30 who had no radiation therapy. Additional or alternative methods for consolidation of pCR are needed since patients continue to relapse despite optimal initial response to therapy.

This report describes the clinicopathologic features of a 49‐year‐old woman who was reoperated on for bulky abdominal metastases 20 years after hysterectomy for endometrial stromal myosis (ESM). The levels of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors measured in the resected tumorous tissue amounted to 48.3 and 71.4 femtomoles (fmol)/mg cytosol protein, respectively. After medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo‐Provera; Upjohn) treatment of 16 months duration, the unresected pelvic tumor mass compressing the bladder and the left ureter had decreased in volume and hydroureteronephrosis had regressed. The efficacy of the therapy was monitored by computed tomography. Two years and nine months after surgery, the evolution of the tumor seems well‐controlled by continuous progestin therapy and the patient is living without symptoms. Cancer 50:1888‐1893, 1982.

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