Radiopharmaceuticals in monitoring cancer

122 patients who presented with or developed calcification within metastatic ovarian cancer. Changes in soft tissue lesion size and the development of calcification have been correlated with histopathology and outcome. The study group was compared with a control group of 1577 patients who had a CT scan performed at least once during follow-up. A positive relationship between calcification and tumour sub-type was identified with serous tumours, which represented 60% of the calcified group, against 30% in the control. Patients with calcification were generally higher stage than the control group but lower grade. They also had a poorer survival rate. There did not seem to be any relationship between the development of calcification and chemotherapy and thus it is unusable as a marker of response. Reliable assessment of metastatic ovarian cancer still remains extremely difficult and it is contended that for this disease trial data should be subjected to external panel review.