Quality of Life and Treatment Response Among Women With Platinum-Resistant Versus Platinum-Sensitive Ovarian Cancer Treated for Progression

PurposeThe management of recurrent ovarian cancer remains controversial. Single-agent topotecan is an established treatment option, and preliminary evidence suggests improved tumor control by combining topotecan with etoposide or gemcitabine.Patients and MethodsWomen with relapsed ovarian cancer after primary surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy were randomly assigned to topotecan monotherapy 1.25 mg/m2/d, topotecan 1.0 mg/m2plus oral etoposide 50 mg/d, or topotecan 0.5 mg/m2/d plus gemcitabine 800 mg/m2on day 1 and 600 mg/m2on day 8 every 3 weeks. Patients were stratified for platinum-refractory and platinum-sensitive disease according to a recurrence-free interval of less or more than 12 months, respectively. The primary end point was overall survival. Secondary end points included progression-free survival, objective response rates, toxicity, and quality of life (as measured by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] 30-item Quality-of-Life Questionnaire).ResultsThe trial enrolled 502 patients with a mean age of 60.5 years (± 10.2 years), 208 of whom were platinum resistant. Median overall survival was 17.2 months (95% CI, 13.5 to 21.9 months) with topotecan, 17.8 months (95% CI, 13.7 to 20.0 months) with topotecan plus etoposide (log-rank P = .7647), and 15.2 months (95% CI, 11.3 to 20.9 months) with topotecan plus gemcitabine (log-rank P = .2344). Platinum-sensitive patients lived significantly longer than platinum-refractory patients (21.9 v 10.6 months). The median progression-free survival was 7.0, 7.8, and 6.3 months, respectively. Objective response rates were 27.8%, 36.1%, and 31.6%, respectively. Patients under combined treatment were at higher risk of severe thrombocytopenia.ConclusionNonplatinum topotecan combinations do not provide a survival advantage over topotecan alone in women with relapsed ovarian cancer.

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Symptom Control in Patients With Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: Measuring the Benefit of Palliative Chemotherapy in Women With Platinum Refractory/Resistant Ovarian Cancer

International Journal of Gynecological Cancer ◽

10.1111/igc.0b013e3181bf7fb8 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 19 (Suppl 2) ◽

pp. S44-S48 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Michael Friedlander ◽

Phyllis Butow ◽

Martin Stockler ◽

Corona Gainford ◽

Julie Martyn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Ovarian Cancer ◽

Symptom Control ◽

Objective Response ◽

Palliative Therapy ◽

Resistant Refractory ◽

Platinum Resistant ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

The Impact

Most women with advanced ovarian cancer will relapse and subsequently develop platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian cancer. The benefit of treatment is currently based on objective response rates, which are a crude measure of benefit. It would be clinically meaningful if we were better able to measure the benefit of palliative therapy and, in particular, ascertain whether cancer-related symptoms improve with treatment and how this impacts on quality of life. This paper reviews the management of patients with platinum-resistant/refractory ovarian cancer and highlights the gaps in our knowledge and shortcomings with the current approaches to measure the benefit of treatment. The ultimate objective is to describe and encourage recruitment to the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup study that has recently opened. This study will recruit a large number of patients from around the world in an effort to develop more robust instruments to measure the benefit of chemotherapy and to understand the impact of chemotherapy on symptom control and quality of life. In addition, this study will give us an insight into how all patients are managed rather than a select minority who are treated in clinical trials.

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Volasertib Versus Chemotherapy in Platinum-Resistant or -Refractory Ovarian Cancer: A Randomized Phase II Groupe des Investigateurs Nationaux pour l'Etude des Cancers de l'Ovaire Study

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2015.62.1474 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 34 (7) ◽

pp. 706-713 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Eric Pujade-Lauraine ◽

Frédéric Selle ◽

Béatrice Weber ◽

Isabelle-Laure Ray-Coquard ◽

Ignace Vergote ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Ovarian Cancer ◽

Disease Control ◽

Phase Ii ◽

Kinase Inhibitor ◽

Single Agent ◽

Progression Free Survival ◽

Platinum Resistant ◽

Grade 3

Purpose Volasertib is a potent and selective cell-cycle kinase inhibitor that induces mitotic arrest and apoptosis by targeting Polo-like kinase. This phase II trial evaluated volasertib or single-agent chemotherapy in patients with platinum-resistant or -refractory ovarian cancer who experienced failure after treatment with two or three therapy lines. Patients and Methods Patients were randomly assigned to receive either volasertib 300 mg by intravenous infusion every 3 weeks or an investigator’s choice of single-agent, nonplatinum, cytotoxic chemotherapy. The primary end point was 24-week disease control rate. Secondary end points included best overall response, progression-free survival (PFS), safety, quality of life, and exploratory biomarker analyses. Results Of the 109 patients receiving treatment, 54 received volasertib and 55 received chemotherapy; demographics were well balanced. The 24-week disease control rates for volasertib and chemotherapy were 30.6% (95% CI, 18.0% to 43.2%) and 43.1% (95% CI, 29.6% to 56.7%), respectively, with partial responses in seven (13.0%) and eight (14.5%) patients, respectively. Median PFS was 13.1 weeks and 20.6 weeks for volasertib and chemotherapy (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.53). Six patients (11%) receiving volasertib achieved PFS fore more than 1 year, whereas no patient receiving chemotherapy achieved PFS greater than 1 year. No relationship between the expression of the biomarkers tested and their response was determined. Patients treated with volasertib experienced more grade 3 and 4 drug-related hematologic adverse events (AEs) and fewer nonhematologic AEs than did patients receiving chemotherapy. Discontinuation resulting from AEs occurred in seven (13.0%) and 15 (27.3%) patients in the volasertib and chemotherapy arms, respectively. Both arms showed similar effects on quality of life. Conclusion Single-agent volasertib showed antitumor activity in patients with ovarian cancer. AEs in patients receiving volasertib were mainly hematologic and manageable.

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Gemcitabine Plus Carboplatin Compared With Carboplatin in Patients With Platinum-Sensitive Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: An Intergroup Trial of the AGO-OVAR, the NCIC CTG, and the EORTC GCG

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2006.06.0913 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 24 (29) ◽

pp. 4699-4707 ◽

Cited By ~ 497

Author(s):

Jacobus Pfisterer ◽

Marie Plante ◽

Ignace Vergote ◽

Andreas du Bois ◽

Hal Hirte ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Ovarian Cancer ◽

Response Rate ◽

Single Agent ◽

Advanced Ovarian Cancer ◽

Progression Free Survival ◽

Recurrent Ovarian Cancer ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Platinum Sensitive

Purpose Most patients with advanced ovarian cancer develop recurrent disease. For those patients who recur at least 6 months after initial therapy, paclitaxel platinum has shown a modest survival advantage over platinum without paclitaxel; however, many patients develop clinically relevant neurotoxicity, frequently resulting in treatment discontinuation. Thus, an alternative regimen without significant neurotoxicity was evaluated by comparing gemcitabine plus carboplatin with single-agent carboplatin in platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer patients. Methods Patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer were randomly assigned to receive either gemcitabine plus carboplatin or carboplatin alone, every 21 days. The primary objective was to compare progression-free survival (PFS). Results Three hundred fifty-six patients (178 gemcitabine plus carboplatin; 178 carboplatin) were randomly assigned. Patients received a median of six cycles in both arms. With a median follow-up of 17 months, median PFS was 8.6 months (95% CI, 7.9 to 9.7 months) for gemcitabine plus carboplatin and 5.8 months (95% CI, 5.2 to 7.1 months) for carboplatin. The hazard ration (HR) for PFS was 0.72 (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.90; P = .0031). Response rate was 47.2% (95% CI, 39.9% to 54.5%) for gemcitabine plus carboplatin and 30.9% (95% CI, 24.1% to 37.7%) for carboplatin (P = .0016). The HR for overall survival was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.75 to1.23; P = .7349). While myelosuppression was significantly more common in the combination, sequelae such as febrile neutropenia or infections were uncommon. No statistically significant differences in quality of life scores between arms were noted. Conclusion Gemcitabine plus carboplatin significantly improves PFS and response rate without worsening quality of life for patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer.

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