Does Modified IP Chemotherapy Regimen Improve Tolerability in Patients With Ovarian Cancer?
Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2018
A modified intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy regimen demonstrated an improved tolerability profile compared with the standard IP regimen used in the phase III Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) 172 trial, according to a single-institution study published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology. The modified regimen, which substitutes docetaxel for paclitaxel, reduces the dose of cisplatin, and is administered in an outpatient setting, resulted in “reduced rates of severe toxicity, no treatment-related deaths, and promising preliminary survival data,” according to lead author David A. Becker, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues.
“By moving treatment to an outpatient setting and improving the toxicity profile, we anticipate our ability to treat patients will improve, as will our institutional survival rates,” the investigators noted.
In this retrospective cohort study, Dr. Becker and colleagues focused on 60 patients with surgical stages II to IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal carcinoma. Patients were treated with an outpatient IP chemotherapy regimen of docetaxel at 75 mg/m2 intravenously and cisplatin at 75 mg/m2 IP on day 1, followed by paclitaxel at 60 mg/m2 IP on day 8.
Within the cohort, the most common side effects included neutropenia (47%), gastrointestinal (28%), and anemia (25%). A total of 85% of patients experienced no IP port complications. About one-third of patients required dose delay or reduction. The majority of patients (88%) achieved a complete response, with about half currently without evidence of disease. Median progression-free survival of 25.5 months was observed, with a median overall survival of 56.8 months.
