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| The Johns Hopkins Ovarian Cancer Center of Excellence acknowledges and thanks Aventis, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Oncotech, Ortho Biotech, and The Pam McDonald Fund for their support of this website through provision of unrestricted educational grants. |
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Below are answers to previously submitted questions in the Ask the Expert Forum. Please note that the information is not indended to be used as medical advice -- please consult your physician with any medical concerns. |
| Category: Rare Tumors |
Q: Small Cell Ovarian Cancer in children - where should parents seek help and information on treatments and clinical trials?
A: Small cell carcinoma of the ovary is an extremely rare tumor. Because it is so uncommon, there is limited availability of clinical trials devoted to this tumor type specifically. The most comprehensive source for clinical trial information, that may not be specific to small cell carcinoma of the ovary but that the patient might still be eligible for, is the National Cancer Institute website (www.cancer.gov). Small cell carcinoma of the ovary tends to occur in younger individuals and may be associated with para-neoplastic syndromes (e.g. hypercalcemia). Unfortunately, the prognosis is quite guarded. Nevertheless, there have been several reports in the literature of long-term survival with a multi-modality approach (surgery and chemotherapy) to treatment. In 1997, Tewari et al (Gynecol Oncol. 1997 Sep;66(3):531-4) reported a case of small cell carcinoma of the ovary diagnosed during pregnancy that was treated with cytoreductive surgery and multi-agent chemotherapy (vinblastine, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, bleomycin, doxorubicin, and etoposide). In this report, the patient was alive and without evidence of disease 5(1/2) years after diagnosis. Rana et al. (Obstet Gynecol. 2004 May;103(5 Pt 2):1120-3) recently reported a similar case of advanced-stage (Stage IIIC) small cell carcinoma of the ovary in a 19-year old patient who was treated with conservative surgery and multi-agent chemotherapy consisting of vinblastine, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, bleomycin, doxorubicin, and etoposide. Finally, Sholler et al. (J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2005 Mar;27(3):169-72) also recently described a case of small cell carcinoma of the ovary in an 11-year old patient that achieved long-term survival.
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