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Dr. Chap shares new treatments available for patients who have ovarian cancer.
Dr. Chap:
While there are a lot of advances being made in general for women malignancies and in particular, with ovarian cancer, there are several new chemotherapeutic agents. There are drugs that all of us are looking at to try to move away from chemotherapy, what we call biologic therapies, which are treatments really directed at what is driving the cancer itself, that hopefully will be more effective therapies and less toxic. One of them, for example, is a drug called Avastin, or bevacizumab, which blocks the growth of blood vessels around tumor cells. This has been found to be of efficacy in patients with ovarian cancer.
Well, that’s important. We now realize that for tumor cells to grow, it requires, they require a blood supply for their growth, just like the normal tissues do. So we now take advantage of that by trying to block the growth of blood vessels around cancers so that they actually will die because we have cut off their support.
About Dr. Linnea Chap, M.D.:
Linnea Chap, M.D., is a medical oncologist with an interest in breast cancer treatment. She has been published multiple times and has led several breast and ovarian cancer treatment protocols, including the pioneering use of novel biologic agents such as Herceptin and Avastin. In 2001, Dr. Chap was named, one of “America’s Top Breast Cancer Doctors” by Redbook. Annually, she has also been listed as one of “America’s Top Doctors for Cancer,” published by Michael Connelly. Recognized for her teaching and speaking skills, Dr. Chap has a national reputation where she is frequently called on to speak on the most recent advances in breast cancer treatment.
Visit Dr. Chap at Saint John's Health Center