A phase-II study evaluatin safety and efficacy with weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin as a primary treatment for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC)
5077 Background: The standard chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is carboplatin and paclitaxel every 3 weeks together with debulking surgery. This phase II trial was designed to determine the safety and efficacy of weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel treatment in patients with EOC. Methods: Between October 2003 to August 2005, 37 patients with stage Ic-IV epithelial ovarian, tubal or primary peritoneal carcinoma were enrolled into the study. Carboplatin at AUC=2 and paclitaxel at 80 mg/m2 were administered on days 1,8,15 of a 28-day cycle. Cytoreductive surgery was performed as primary treatment or after 3 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with additional chemotherapy after the surgery. Results: Median age of the patients was 67 (range 49–82). A mean of 6 chemotherapy cycles were administered (range 3–8). Median time of follow-up (from the beginning of chemotherapy until the last follow-up visit) was 15.57 months (range 0.2–26months). Thirty-three patients were evaluable for response. Complete response (CR) was observed in 26 patients (78.8%) and partial response (PR) in 7 (21.8%). By the time of data collection 13 out of 33 women (39.4%) experienced recurrent or persistent disease and one patient (3%) died from progressive disease during 2nd line chemotherapy. Since 20 out of 33 patients are still free of disease and all but one are still alive, it is too early to evaluate time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS). The median time to disease recurrence or progression after completion of primary chemotherapy was 7.5+ months (0.2–18.2+). As for toxicity; grade 3 and 4 neutropenia were seen in 5 (13.5%) and one patient (2.7%) respectively. There was no neutropenic fever. Other grade 3 and 4 hematologic toxicities were not observed. Six (16.2%) and 5 (13.5%) patients needed G-CSF and Epoetin support respectively. The main non-hematologic toxicities were alopecia (grade 1) and fatigue (grade 3 in two patients). Only two patients (5.4%) experienced grade 3 neuropathy. Conclusion: Weekly treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel is feasible and well tolerated. The low toxicity rate especially regarding neuropathy warrants further investigation of this regimen. No significant financial relationships to disclose.