Postoperative irradiation and chemotherapy in patients with advanced ovarian cancer

Two groups of patients with stage III ovarian carcinoma were selected for a randomized clinical trial. The first group consisted of 157 patients who had radical surgery at their first laparotomy, the second group consisted of 145 patients with inoperable disease. The aim of the trial was to compare the results of maximum external megavoltage irradiation, 5 000 rads, to a large abdominal field, with the results of a reduced dose, 3 000 rads, immediately followed by chemotherapy with an alkylating agent (Thio-tepa). In none of the groups, did maximum radiotherapy prove superior to the schedule of a reduced dose combined with chemotherapy. The less costly and time saving combined treatment was better tolerated than irradiation alone. Histological tumour type did not influence the prognosis in these advanced cases where spread was found outside the true pelvis.