New Guidelines Should Improve Ovarian Cancer Detection

In a more intensive regimen recently shown to improve survival, standard intravenous chemotherapy is combined with chemotherapy injected directly into the abdominal cavity. The abdominal injection exposes hard-to-reach cancer cells to higher levels of chemotherapy than can be reached intravenously.

"That was a breakthrough, I think," Duska said.

Other treatments being explored include new chemotherapy drugs, vaccines, gene therapy and immunotherapy, which boosts the body's own immune system to help combat cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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To learn more about ovarian cancer, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.