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Effective Ovarian Cancer Treatment Is Underused, Study Finds

A study published on Monday in The Journal of Clinical Oncology looked at the use of the abdominal treatment, known as intraperitoneal, or IP, treatment at six cancer hospitals from 2003 to 2012, and at patient survival rates. The six hospitals were all members of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of 26 cancer centers that calls itself “the arbiter of high quality cancer care” and creates widely used practice guidelines for cancer treatment, which include the use of IP. But even at these elite centers, IP treatment did not take off as much as experts thought it should. From 2003 to 2006, as research began showing it had benefits, overall use of the treatment rose from zero to 33 percent of patients. From 2007 to 2008 — after the major, landmark study and the alert from the cancer institute — the use rose to 50 percent of eligible patients. But then it reached a plateau. Rates varied from one hospital to the next, with 4 percent to 67 percent of patients receiving IP treatment. Researchers say that at smaller, less prestigious hospitals, the rates are even worse.
- www.nytimes.com