In order to better assess the place of radiotherapy in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma, the length of survival in 44 patients treated with irradiation has been examined. 44 patients, with nil or minimal (less than 2 cm) residual disease, were found among 92 patients with invasive ovarian carcinoma treated consecutively in our center from 1976 to 1986. Treatment included laparotomy for 42 patients. Debulking surgery was complete in 9 stage I and 10 stage II patients. Those patients also received abdominopelvic (16 cases) or pelvic (3 cases) irradiation. Residual tumour was left in the 25 remaining patients (2 with stage IIc, 18 with stage III, and 5 with stage IV) who further underwent various regimes of polychemotherapy (9 without and 16 with cisplatin) followed by second-look laparotomy. 25 patients had no (8 patients) or minimal (17 patients) residual disease after this second laparotomy and they underwent abdominopelvic irradiation. Overall 3-year survival was 68%, 3-year survival was 80% for stage I and II patients treated by radiotherapy after initial complete debulking surgery, and 58% for advanced stages treated by radiotherapy after chemotherapy and second-look laparotomy, 3-year survival was 71% for 18 patients with stage III. Tolerance for irradiation was significantly decreased after chemotherapy and this prevented a complete dose being delivered to 32% of the patients. A late severe complication was noted in only one case. For stage I or II our results are close to those already published by others.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)