2006年VOA标准英语-Treatment Gives Hope For Ovarian Cancer Pa

By Paige Kollock
Washington, D.C.
18 January 2006
 
view Cancer report

Medical experts say it is the biggest breakthrough in more than a decade in the fight against ovarian cancer, a rare but deadly form of the disease.  VOA's Paige Kollock reports on a treatment that extends patients lives, although it cannot cure them.

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An artist's rendering¹ of a cancer tumor²  
  

Ovarian cancer infected approximately 22,000 American women last year, and nearly 73 percent of those women died of it.  Ovarian cancer is so deadly because it often goes undetected until it is in its advanced stages.

However, a treatment called intraperitoneal therapy, or "IP therapy", which has now been endorsed³ by the National Cancer Institute, will help patients live longer. 

The therapy works by pumping chemotherapy directly into the woman's abdomen⁴ with a catheter, so the drugs hit the tumor directly. 

Doctor Jonathan Cosin, Director of Gynecologic Oncology at Washington Hospital Center, says the treatment can help patients live a year or more longer than those who just get intravenous, or traditional, chemotherapy. 

Dr. Jonathan Cosin  
  
"We're talking about the difference between 4 years and over 5 years, so percentage wise, we're talking about almost a 25% increase in survival, so that's a big chunk⁵ of time."

The IP treatment comes at a price.  The treatment is very painful, and only 6 out of 10 women are able to endure the full six-month treatment regimen.

"So it's basically like emptying a 2 liter coke bottle into their abdomen ... that's kind of uncomfortable, it can cause some pain and some cramping⁶," explained Dr. Cosin.

Pain and cramping, along with fatigue⁷, says Linda Gainer, who has received three out of her six treatments of IP chemotherapy.

"It's fatigue like I've never experienced,” says Linda.  “It's fatigue that you can't lay down and sleep for 30 minutes and then recoup and get a second burst of energy."

Gainer was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer in October, which is similar to ovarian cancer in that it affects the same area.  Her doctor recommended the IP treatment.

"Common sense tells you that if these cancer cells are in my abdomen, and if you can put chemo into my abdomen, and the concentration is a 1,000 times greater than what you could if you were putting it through an IV, the chances that its going to get to a lot more of those cancer cells just made a lot of sense," she says.

She is one of the lucky ones.  Other women who have received the treatment have had worse pain.

Doctors say the next step is to eliminate the intolerable side effects, and to make the treatment more widely available in hospitals throughout the world.

1 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

2 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

3 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

5 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

6 cramping   

图像压缩

参考例句：

• The bleeding may keep my left hand from cramping. 淌血会叫我的左手不抽筋。
• This loss of sodium can cause dehydration and cramping. 钠流失会造成脱水和抽筋。

7 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。