Abstract

The safety and efficacy of weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel administration in recurrent ovarian cancers after platinum-containing multidrug chemotherapy were tested. Japanese patients who achieved complete response with surgery and adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy and who had a recurrence after at least 6 months were included in the case – control study. Twenty-seven cases received the weekly TJ (WTJ) regime (cohort 1: T = 80 mg/m², J = AUC 2, median course = 13, range = 3–26) and 41 received other regimens [cohort 2: CAP = 37, monthly TJ (MTJ) = 4]. Toxicity profile, response rate, therapeutic index (TI), and survival were analyzed. Neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and peripheral neuropathy (grades 3 and 4) in cohorts 1 and 2 were 1.7% and 90%, 5.1% and 14.3%, and 0% and 4.8%, respectively. Response rates were 77.8% and. Thus, TI of the two cohorts was 3.9 and 1.9, respectively. The median survival of cohort 1 was 48.3 months (95% CI 11.5–85.0) whereas that of cohort 2 was 17.8 months (95% CI 5.3–30.3, P < 0.005). WTJ has better toxicity profile and TI than monthly platinum-based multidrug regimens for recurrent ovarian cancers in Japanese women. As second-line treatment of ovarian cancer should primarily provide high TI, WTJ regimen appears a better candidate, but its long-term survival benefit should be tested against MTJ.