Veteran Journalist, Christiane Amanpour, 67, Says, ‘I Have It Again’ After Experiencing Ovarian Cancer Recurrence – What the Next Steps In Her Treatment Journey May Look Like

Amanpour has spent decades shaping global understanding through fearless reporting from war zones and humanitarian crises. However, since 2021, the trailblazing journalist has been dealing with ovarian cancer, a different kind of challenge that tests her resilience.

“I’ve spent my career covering genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, wars in Afghanistan, Iraq—all really dangerous stuff… And I’ve survived all that. But this is very different,” Amanpour told People Magazine. “I was shocked.”

Her cancer was discovered during a routine screening, when doctors found a “grapefruit-sized cyst” on her right ovary. The diagnosis: stage 2 ovarian cancer—a disease often dubbed “the cancer that whispers” due to its elusive symptoms. Bloating, pelvic pain, and changes in bowel habits are common signs, yet are frequently overlooked. Many cases originate in the fallopian tubes before spreading to the ovaries, making early detection especially challenging.

When she took a few weeks off to focus on her health, she admits she was “pretty scared before the surgery.”

“I did chemo that took however long, six cycles. I  put on an ice cap in order to make sure that I didn’t lose too much hair and I didn’t lose too much hair. I kept my bangs, you know, the fringe and all of the rest of it. I said, ‘This chemo must know I’m on television, so for me that was lucky.”

Amanpour refers to cooling caps, one of the most common ways for people to try to slow their chemo hair loss, as a process called scalp hypothermia. It uses ice packs or wearing the cooling cap or cold caps before, during, and after each chemotherapy treatment.

“Essentially, these caps slow the blood flow to those direct areas to decrease the extent of hair loss,” says Dr. Stephanie Wethington, a gynecologic oncologist at Johns Hopkins University.

By constricting the blood flow to the scalp, the caps limit the amount of circulating chemotherapy that reaches the hair follicles, protecting them from some of the chemo’s damaging effects.

“There are multiple companies that can provide these caps, and they all have their own data as to how efficacious they are,” says Dr. Wethington. In my experience, they do help. They don’t eliminate hair thinning, but they seem to help.” Some versions of these caps are even high-tech, connecting to a computer that controls the flow of cooled liquid through the cap.

Dr. Wethington says some people also use the caps on the hands and feet to ease neuropathy–nerve damage causing feelings of numbness, tingling, or pain.

Since her cancer returned, she’s received immunotherapy for treatment, which helped her reach remission once again. Immunotherapy helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.

Immunotherapy is designed to block the cancer’s protective signals, allowing white blood cells to recognize and attack the cancer cells properly. Interestingly, cancer cells themselves aren’t always hard to destroy, but they multiply rapidly. Immunotherapy helps the immune system keep the cancer in check before it can spread further. It’s essential to remember that immunotherapy may not be effective for everyone.

WATCH: Treating ovarian cancer.

On receiving immunotherapy, Amanpour says, “I have no side effects. I take pills every day, and then now every six weeks, I go into the hospital and have an infusion of another drug that goes with my particular cocktail of immunotherapy.”

While it’s unclear what the specific treatment Amanpour is taking is, if you have questions on certain treatments, consider asking SurvivorNet’s My Health Questions.

Since being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Amanpour says it has influenced her perspective on life.

“It gives me a perspective on the incredible debt we owe our doctors, our scientists….We can’t thank or pay enough our doctors because they’re constantly researching, looking for new things,” Amanpour said.

What’s the Standard of Care for Ovarian Cancer Recurrence?

Ovarian cancer recurrence presents a critical turning point in treatment. For many women, platinum-based chemotherapy—often the first line of defense—remains effective across multiple cycles. But over time, cancer cells may adapt, and resistance can emerge after just one round or several.

Platinum Sensitivity vs. Resistance: What It Means for Treatment

• Platinum Sensitive: If a patient remains cancer-free for more than six months after platinum therapy, they’re considered platinum sensitive. This signals that the cancer is still responding, and doctors may continue using platinum-based drugs.
• Platinum Resistant: If recurrence occurs within six months, the cancer is classified as platinum resistant. In these cases, oncologists typically shift to alternative therapies tailored to overcome resistance.

Adjusting Chemotherapy Strategies

• Taxol (Paclitaxel): Commonly paired with platinum in initial treatment. For platinum-resistant patients, doctors may increase its frequency—administering it weekly instead of every three weeks.
• Other Options: Drugs like Gemzar (gemcitabine), Topotecan, and Doxil (liposomal doxorubicin) are often introduced, sometimes alongside Avastin (bevacizumab).

How Avastin Works

Avastin is a VEGF inhibitor that blocks angiogenesis—the process by which tumors grow new blood vessels. By cutting off this supply, Avastin helps starve the tumor and slow its progression. It’s frequently combined with chemotherapy in recurrent cases.

Targeting DNA Repair: Platinum & PARP Inhibitors

Platinum drugs and PARP inhibitors share a powerful mechanism: they disrupt a cancer cell’s ability to repair damaged DNA. This is especially effective in patients with BRCA mutations, whose cells already have impaired DNA repair pathways.

• PARP Inhibitors: Initially tested in BRCA-positive patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, these drugs are now used more broadly. Emerging evidence shows they can extend survival even in patients without BRCA mutations.
• Genetic Testing: Oncologists strongly recommend BRCA testing for all ovarian cancer patients. Knowing your genetic profile helps guide treatment and opens doors to targeted therapies.

New Hope for Platinum-Resistant Patients: Elahere

In 2023, the FDA granted accelerated approval to Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine), a breakthrough therapy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

• Targeted Action: Elahere zeroes in on folate receptor alpha (FRα), a protein found on the surface of certain ovarian cancer cells.
• SORAYA Trial: Demonstrated that Elahere suppressed tumor growth in roughly one-third of patients.
• MIRASOL Trial: Compared Elahere to standard chemotherapy in FRα-positive patients. Results were promising:
• Among patients previously treated with Avastin:
  • 36% saw longer progression-free survival.
  • 26% lived longer overall.
• Among those not treated with Avastin:
  • Progression-free survival improved by 34%.
  • Overall survival improved by 49%.

These findings signal a major step forward for women facing platinum-resistant disease—especially those with FRα-positive tumors. Full FDA approval is anticipated based on these results.

Better Understanding Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer has been called the “cancer that whispers” because women often don’t experience symptoms until their cancer has already reached its late stages. The symptoms that do appear at first are hard to identify as cancer.

WATCH: Ovarian cancer’s subtle symptoms.

“Ovarian cancer does not have any specific symptoms,” Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist at UCLA Medical Center, told SurvivorNet.

The symptoms of ovarian cancer may include the following, according to SurvivorNet experts.

• A feeling of bloating or fullness
• Pain in the pelvis or abdomen
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Changes in bowel habits

The standard of care for ovarian cancer patients is chemotherapy, which helps many patients reach remission.

With recurrence a strong possibility for this disease, especially in the later stages of ovarian cancer, certain drug treatments to deal with it are giving many women hope.

Maintenance therapy is continued treatment after the patient finishes their initial treatment. After an ovarian cancer patient completes a round of treatments — such as surgery and chemotherapy — her doctor may recommend some form of maintenance therapy to try and delay possible recurrence. Maintenance therapy can involve taking an oral pill called a PARP inhibitor every day after chemotherapy and can keep cancer in remission longer.

Genetic testing helps doctors determine the best maintenance therapy.

WATCH: How your ovarian cancer responds to certain types of chemotherapies guides your future treatments.

The type of treatment recommended for recurrence can depend on several factors:

• The period within which the cancer recurred
• The kind of chemotherapy the woman underwent in the past
• Side effects that came as a result of past treatments
• The length of time between the last treatment the woman underwent and the recurrence
• The specific mutations and molecular features of your cancer

Clinical trials are an option for women facing ovarian cancer with a high probability of recurrence. If you fall into this category, ask your doctor about possible clinical trial eligibility. Clinical trials help doctors better understand cancer and discover more effective treatment methods. They also allow patients to try a treatment before it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which can potentially be life-changing.

WATCH: Clinical trials can be life-saving.

Despite the great benefits of clinical trials, they also come with risks (like potential side effects that are not fully understood yet). People interested in participating in clinical trials must first talk with their doctor to see if they would be a good fit.

Determining the probability that a woman’s cancer will recur depends on the stage at which they were initially diagnosed. According to most data:

• Women with stage 1 ovarian cancer have a 10 percent chance of recurrence.
• Women in stage 2 have a 30 percent chance of recurrence.
• Women in stage 3 have a 70 to 90 percent chance of recurrence.
• Women in stage 4 have a 90 to 95 percent chance of recurrence.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and need guidance to further educate yourself on the disease and treatment, consider these questions for your doctor.

• What type of ovarian cancer do I have?
• What stage is my cancer in?
• Do you recommend I get genetic testing for any gene mutations, such as the BRCA gene mutation?
• What initial treatment options do you recommend?
• What are the possible side effects of the recommended treatment, and how can they be coped with?
• Will insurance help cover my recommended treatment?

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