Available ovarian cancer treatments include the following:

Surgery: The goal of the surgery is to remove as much of the tumor from the body as possible. In most cases, the surgery removes both ovaries, the uterus, fallopian tubes, nearby lymph glands and a fold of fatty tissue that covers the bowels. There are two types of surgeries: laparotomy, where an incision is opened in the abdomen, and laparoscopy, where a tube attached with a camera is inserted through an opening in the pelvic area. Laparoscopy is the less invasive of the two. After the surgery, the patient usually continues to receive chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy: In chemotherapy, a drug or a combination of drugs that poison cells is given to the patient, most often via intravenous injection. Once inside the body, the drug travels around the body and kills the rapidly-dividing cancer cells. Because the drug also kills other normal rapidly-dividing healthy cells, there can be adverse side effects.

Radiation treatment: Radiation treatments use high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Because it is very difficult to pinpoint the radiation only to the cancer cells, usually the surrounding healthy cells will be affected as well. As such, radiation treatment is only suitable for patients in early stages of ovarian cancer (when the cancer is still contained within the ovaries). Beyond this stage, radiation may damage other organs and is therefore not recommended. Radiation treatment comes in two types: external and internal. In external radiation treatment, a laser is used, usually with the assistance of computer, to point to the cancer cells. In internal radiation treatment (called brachytherapy) , tiny seeds containing radioactive material are injected directly into or near the cancer and left there. In time, the material loses its radioactivity and the seeds do not need to be taken out.

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