Treatment of ovarian cancer with paclitaxel- or carboplatin-based intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy during secondary surgery.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of treating advanced ovarian cancer with paclitaxel or carboplatin in intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy (IPHC) during secondary surgery.

METHODS: We reviewed clinical data of 96 eligible patients with stage Ic-IIIc epithelial ovarian cancer. After primary staging operation and 6-12 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy, 22 patients were treated with IPHC-paclitaxel (175 mg/m(2)) and 45 patients were treated with IPHC-carboplatin (350 mg/m(2)) during secondary surgery. Survival rates were compared with those of 29 patients treated with only conventional therapy (control group).

RESULTS: In stage III diseases, 5-year survival rates were 84.6% in IPHC-paclitaxel, 63.0% in IPHC-carboplatin (P=0.4098) and 32.8% in control group (vs. IPHC, P=0.0003). Three-year progression-free survival rates in stage III diseases were both 56.3% in IPHC-paclitaxel and IPHC-carboplatin (P=0.8911) and 16.7% in control group (vs. IPHC, P=0.0028). For the relative risk of disease progression yielded from multivariate analyses, hazard ratio of IPHC-paclitaxel was 0.281 (P=0.0039) and that of IPHC-carboplatin was 0.443 (P=0.0083). Like carboplatin (hazard ratio: 0.396, P=0.0004), IPHC-paclitaxel considerably decreased the risk of death (hazard ratio: 0.197, P=0.0253).

CONCLUSION: In advanced ovarian cancer, IPHC using paclitaxel or carboplatin during secondary surgery could be a candidate for regional consolidation therapy to prolong survival and hinder disease progression.