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Gemcitabine, carboplatin and paclitaxel: 100% response rate in ovarian cancer, with 58% complete remissions

Treatment of ovarian cancer remains to be challenging despite the progress that has been made by the introduction of Paclitaxel. As in other malignancies the integration and combination of newer agents into existing treatment schedules seems to be a quite promising approach, said Dr. S. W Hansen who presented an European multicentre trial in patients with FIGO stage III/IV epithelial ovarian cancer.

Half of the patients had undergone primary surgical debulking and none of the patients had received prior chemotherapy. 28 patients have been enrolled into the trial receiving a triple therapy with gemcitabine (800mg/m²), carboplatin (AUC 5) and paclitaxel (175mg/m²). The number of cycles administered ranged between 6 and 8. 10 patients underwent intermittent cytoreductive surgery.

The results concerning the efficacy of this triple therapy are striking despite the small number of patients involved, noted Dr. Hansen. All patients could gain significant benefit from the therapy including 58% complete and 42% with a partial response. These 5 patients with PR had interval surgery and could be converted to CR after 3 cycles of postoperative chemotherapy. The median time to progression was 13 months while the median survival time has not been reached up to now.