Q: Dear Doctor, My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with ovarian tumour and the doctor informed that it is in the secondary stage. The chest X-ray and ultra sound have been done and the doctor said that the disease has spread to the other organs. Can you enlighten me regarding the various stages of this disease and the treatment options.

A:Ovarian cancer has four stages : Stage 1 - disease limited to the ovaries; Stage 2 - disease limited to pelvis; Stage 3 - disease limited to abdomen but not liver; Stage 4 - disease spreaed to liver, lungs, bones etc. Treatment of first three stages is surgery and chemotherapy (except stage 1A). Treatment of stage 4 is chemotherapy.