Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer – How Does it Work?
There are three main treatments for ovarian cancer, once a diagnosis is made. These are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. In some cases it will be recommended to have two or even all three of these treatments. When chemotherapy is recommended, it is usually given after the surgery in 6 doses spaced 3 weeks apart. This is called “first line” because it is the first time chemo is administered. The chemotherapy drugs are injected intravenously, often by way of a port which your oncologist will place in your chest or arm. Sometimes intraperitoneal chemo is used which injects the drugs directly into the abdomen. The standard initial therapy suggested by doctors uses a combination of a platinum-based drug such as carboplatin or cisplatin along with a taxane such as paclitaxel or docetaxel. Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells that are left in your body after surgery, but they also damage normal cells, as the drugs do not differentiate between normal and diseased. The simple explanation i
