[Total abdominal radiotherapy in epithelial cancer of the ovary]

The prognosis of ovarian cancers, which are frequently diagnosed at a late stage, can probably be improved by whole abdominal radiotherapy. 45 patients in Lyon and 8 patients in Montélimar (7 stage I or C, 10 stage II and 36 stage III) were treated by whole abdominal radiotherapy, generally after 6 courses of chemotherapy (46 cases). The overall 5-year survival of this group of patients was 48% (Kaplan-Meier method). When the patients treated by complete resection at 1st look surgery (19 cases) are compared with those in whom 1st look surgery was incomplete (34 cases), the actuarial survival was 83% versus 27%. This study demonstrates that whole abdominal radiotherapy is feasible without any serious long-term complications after two operations and 6 courses of chemotherapy. These encouraging results need to be confirmed by randomised prospective studies.