Thirty-eight patients with an advanced ovarian cancer (FIGO stage III and IV) were randomly allocated to treatment, either with melphalan (M) or a combination of adriamycin, 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide (CAF) to determine the effect on survival. Actuarial survival of the two treatment groups was the same but the combination was more toxic.

Summary A prospective study of 61 women who were normotensive at booking revealed an increased incidence of C 56 ‐forming ability in those who later developed hypertension. Similar changes were found before delivery in a separate group of women admitted with latent hypertension and in each of 11 women with severe pre‐eclampsia and a surviving fetus. The C 56 ‐forming ability, an acute phase feature, often preceded the hypertension and the findings suggest an indirect relation between complement changes and the mechanism causing hypertension in pregnancy. Concentrations of complement components in hypertension and normotensive pregnancies were also compared with each other and with those of normal healthy non‐pregnant women. The hypertension patients had increased total alternative pathway function and higher factor B concentrations. The C 56 ‐negative sera from hypertension patients tended to have C7 concentrations higher than normal whereas C 56 ‐positive patients had higher C5 concentrations. The aetiological and pathological implications are discussed.