What Does it Really Mean?
Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer is the most advanced form of this disease. In this stage ovarian cancer cells have metastasized and spread to other organs of the body such as the liver or lungs.
Together with Stage 3, these are known as the advanced ovarian stages.
See the image below for a detailed view of what Stage 4 looks like:
In the later stages of ovarian cancer, in particular stage 4 given the fact that prognosis is poorest for this stage, cytoreduction becomes crucial in those patients where it is technically feasible. If the procedure is performed “optimally” the prognosis for these patients can improve significantly and survival rates start to approach those of stage 3 cancer.
The procedure involves removing as much of the cancer as possible before patients undergo chemotherapy, to give the drugs the best chance of working by reducing the number of cells the chemotherapy has to kill. So it is important to ensure that the surgeon performing the procedure is experienced enough to achieve the best result possible.
Hi Cindy,
I hope you found your answer. How are your numbers now? My mom was told the same as you and just recently was told that chemo is not working for her. Her numbers went down at first and now they are going up. Did you find another alternative to keep the numbers down?
Hope you are well and look forward to your response.
Thank You for publishing this page. It sure makes fighting Ovarian Cancer easier with weapons like this page. I have stage 4 ovariaan cancer and want to know about my ca125 test. When I was first diagnosed in July of 2010 my count was over 36,000. Now since my operation of a complete hysterectomy the numbers have been as low as 35 normal but seems they are coming slowly up and are now close to 200. My oncology doctor tells me that the numbers can vary from the chemo I am receiving directly into my abdomen. Can you verify this for me. It isn’t that I don’t trust my doctor, I just want someone else to tell me the same thing. hee hee Does that make sense to you?