Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs can be injected into a vein. If so, the treatment is intravenous. Another way to give the drugs is called intraperitoneal. This process is associated with a longer survival in patients with ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is very similar to PPC. This chemotherapy process involves putting medicines directly into the abdomen. They are put in through a catheter. The catheter is placed under the skin at the time of the surgery or shortly thereafter. The down side is this process has more immediate side effects than intravenous chemotherapy. As a result, some patients prefer the more traditional injection. Intraperitoneal treatment is only given if optimal debulking surgery has been achieved. Either treatment may be done in the doctor’s office. They can also be done in outpatient treatment areas of the hospital. Sometimes they’re done for patients who are hospitalized.

Typically, intravenous therapy is given every three weeks as an outpatient. Each treatment is known as a cycle. The first treatment usually consists of six cycles. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy is also given on a three-week schedule for six cycles. But, each cycle is a little more involved. The patient might have treatments on several days of the 21 day cycle. That’s compared to treatment on only day 1 of the cycle if it’s intravenous.

The most common chemotherapy medicines for PPC are the same as those for ovarian cancer. These include one of the platinum-based medicines, Cisplatin and Carboplatin. It also includes Paclitaxel (Taxol) which is given in combination.

Side Effects

Each person responds to chemotherapy in a different way. Some have very few side effects. Others have several. Most side effects are temporary. They include:

  • nausea
  • loss of appetite
  • mouth sores
  • increased chance of infection
  • bleeding or bruising easily
  • vomiting
  • hair loss
  • fatigue
  • constipation
  • diarrhea