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Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH
Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH
Posted: Monday, January 27, 2025
The addition of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) does not appear to increase progression-free survival among patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer who have been treated with secondary cytoreductive surgery, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Anna Fagotti, MD, PhD, of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, and colleagues found that adding HIPEC to complete or nearly complete primary treatment with secondary cytoreductive surgery did not improve outcomes in this patient population compared with secondary cytoreductive surgery alone. In addition, they reported no additional toxicity related to hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.
“[This trial] has its strength in the selection of a very homogeneous population, who was followed up for at least 24 months from random assignment in 91% of the cases,” the investigators noted.
A total of 167 patients with resectable, platinum-sensitive, recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer were included in this phase III clinical trial. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group receiving secondary cytoreductive surgery plus HIPEC (n = 82) or a control group receiving secondary cytoreductive surgery alone (n = 85). The experimental group received 75 mg/m2 of cisplatin for 60 minutes at 41.5°C at the end of surgery, and both groups received postoperative platinum-based chemotherapy.
The investigators reported that the median follow-up was 83 months (interquartile range = 64–102 months) and that the median progression-free survival was 23 months in the control group (95% confidence interval [CI] = 17–29 months) and 25 months in the experimental group (95% CI = 18–32 months). At 5 years, the probability of progression-free survival was found to be 61.6% (95% CI = 50.8%–72.4%) and 75.9% (95% CI = 66.5%–85.3%), respectively. A similar incidence of postoperative adverse events of any grade was observed between the two groups.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit ascopubs.org.
