Booklet: What You Need to Know about Ovarian Cancer

Followup Care

In some cases, doctors recommend "second-look" surgery after chemotherapy is complete. This allows the doctor to examine the abdomen directly and take fluid and tissue samples to see whether the treatment has been successful. If cancer is found, additional treatment is needed.

When treatment is over, regular checkups generally include a physical exam, as well as a pelvic exam and Pap smear. Sometimes doctors also order chest x-rays, a CT scan of the abdomen, and laboratory tests such as urinalysis, a complete blood count, and the CA-125 assay. Often the CA-125 level in a patient's blood is high before surgery and returns to normal within several weeks after the tumor has been removed. If the CA-125 level begins to rise again, it may mean the cancer has come back.

Depending on the drugs she has received, a woman treated for ovarian cancer with chemotherapy may have an increased risk of developing leukemia later in life. However, it is important to keep in mind that the benefits of receiving treatment for ovarian cancer far outweigh the risks of future disease.

Women should carefully follow their doctor's advice on health care and checkups, and should report any problem to the doctor as soon as it appears.

             <<Back                     Back to Content Page                     Next >>