BALTIMORE -- Ovarian cancer can be a frightening diagnosis for women because the disease is all too often discovered in the later stages.

Now, doctors are using an aggressive treatment for reoccurring cancer that has improved survival rates.

Emi Killeri, 51, discovered she had ovarian cancer in November 2002 during surgery for fibroids.

"At that time, (the doctor) discovered ovarian cancer within both ovaries, and it was still contained," she said.

But even after surgery, and four rounds of chemotherapy, Killeri's cancer returned the next year.

"According to my research, there's a 35 percent survival rate for the reoccurrence of ovarian cancer surgery. That's not too good, so I (wanted) to research a little more," Killeri said.

Killeri went to Dr. Armando Sardi, a surgical oncologist at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, for a procedure called intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy (IPHC), which is an aggressive treatment.

"Going in, it's major surgical procedure to get rid of all the tumor as possible, if not all. It's a very extensive procedure, lasting about 12 hours," Sardi said.

Then the abdominal cavity is bathed in heated chemotherapy for 90 minutes.

"This is for patients who otherwise really have no chance, most of (whom) already have been told to go home and die," Sardi said.

This July will mark three years since Killeri's IPHC, and she feels great.

"I'm back to living a normal life, back to work, doing the things I like to do," she said.

IPHC is being currently used for gastric cancer, colon cancer, mesothelioma and recurring ovarian cancer. Studies are currently under way to determine whether IPHC should ideally be the first surgery sought.

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