Republic woman on the road again after recovery from ovarian cancer

Joanne Eide and her husband Vernon hit the road in their RV after her recovery from ovarian cancer.

The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, in January issued an announcement encouraging treatment with anticancer drugs via two methods, after surgery, for women with advanced ovarian cancer.

The combined methods, which deliver chemo both into a vein (IV) and directly into the abdomen (intraperitoneal or IP) extend overall survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer by about a year.

Cancer Research of the Ozarks, a joint venture between CoxHealth and St. John’s Health System, participated in the NCI-supported clinical trial that led to the endorsement.

Joanne Eide, 66, of Republic, was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer in 1998 after a hysterectomy. She participated in the trial at the recommendation of her physician and has been cancer-free for nearly eight years.

She began having symptoms, such as bloating and abdominal pain in mid-1997, but it wasn’t until her husband Vernon insisted she see a physician later that year while they were on vacation in their motor home in California that they learned that something might be seriously wrong.

“I had an ultrasound in California and it showed a good-sized mass in my abdomen,” Eide says.

They quickly returned to Missouri, where Eide made an appointment with her OB/GYN, who referred her to a gynecologic oncologist. He performed a complete hysterectomy.

“It wasn’t until after the surgery that we learned it was cancer,” Eide says. “The doctor recommended I participate in this clinical trial and I fit the criteria, so I decided to go for it. We all thought it would be my best chance.”

Three weeks after the surgery, Eide began the three-weeks-on, one-week off chemo regimen. She had two ports surgically inserted to receive the chemo – one just below her clavicle and the other in her abdomen. During the five-month course of treatment, she received two blood transfusions.

“A couple of times, I needed more than the usual one-week interval between rounds because the chemo made me so sick,” she says. “At that time we were living in our motor home full time because we were traveling. It turned out to be a blessing because we could park our motor home at St. John’s the day of my treatment and stay for a few days in case I had complications.”

Now cancer-free for eight years, Eide is grateful to have participated in the trial and pleased that the treatment that saved her life has been given the stamp of approval from the NCI.

FOURTH DEADLIEST CANCER

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer, and the fourth-deadliest of all cancers, says St. John’s gynecologic oncologist James Bosscher, M.D. “The problem with ovarian cancer is that it’s usually diagnosed late,” he says. Recent statistics show that only 45 percent of women survive five years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer; the rate increases to 94 percent when the disease is diagnosed before it has spread. However, women with ovarian cancer frequently have no symptoms or only mild symptoms until the disease is advanced. As a result, only 19 percent of all cases are detected at that early, localized stage.

"IP therapy, or delivering the drug directly into the abdomen, is not a new treatment approach, but it had not been widely accepted as the gold standard for women with ovarian cancer," says St. John's gynecologic oncologist
James Bosscher, M.D. "Now, thanks to this trial, we have firm data showing that we should use a combination of IP and IV chemotherapy in most women with advanced ovarian cancer who have had successful surgery to remove the bulk of their tumor."

Dr. Bosscher recommends clinical trials to any patient who meets the criteria.

“Clinical trials allow us to develop new treatments for cancer patients that hopefully will result in longer periods of remission from the disease and subsequently better overall survival,” he says.