The goal with ovarian cancer surgery is to remove as much of the disease as possible; ideally, surgeons are aiming to get a woman to the point where there is no evidence of disease left over on visual inspection of the abdomen. However, a lot of factors go into making treatment decisions. A large percentage of women with ovarian cancer will be getting a combination of surgery and chemotherapy — and deciding which treatment to use first depends on several factors.
Even though surgery first is the more common recommendation, it’s not always the right choice. This is why a treatment plan always needs to be custom-tailored to the specific needs of the patient.
Read More Treatment plans may include surgery and chemotherapy, and, less commonly, radiation. Complementary therapies like acupuncture and meditation are also often used to relieve stress, nausea and fatigue. Sometimes the doctor and her/his team may recommend participation in clinical trials. If you do have surgery and chemotherapy or radiation, it is also important to discuss what your treatment plan should be afterwards. What kind of exercises can you/should you do? What symptoms should you now watch out for? Will you need any further blood tests, and, if so, how often? How will your lifestyle now be altered, if at all? What will your options be if your cancer comes back? The bottom line: meeting with your doctor to let them know what is most important to you during this medical journey will best help them create the right treatment plan for you.
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