Objective: To compare survival of ovarian cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by intraperitoneal (IP) versus intravenous (IV) chemotherapy after optimal interval debulking.
Methods: Optimally debulked patients after neoadjuvant IV platinum paclitaxel based chemotherapy followed by postoperative IP chemotherapy were reviewed. A similar cohort of patients treated postoperatively with IV platinum paclitaxel based chemotherapy was chosen as control. Patient and disease-related demographics were abstracted from electronic hospital medical records. Associations between categorical variables were determined using Chi square test. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier method estimated progression-free and overall survival.
Results: Fifty-four IV and 17 IP treated patients after interval debulking were studied. The majority of patients had serous histology and grade 3 tumours. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to age and proportion of microscopic residual disease. Patients with macroscopic residual disease had a significantly worse prognosis (HR=2.17, 95% CI=1.23-3.85, p=0.008). Clinical complete response after primary treatment was 67% and 88% in the IV and IP group, respectively (p=0.36). Estimated mean progression-free survival was 18 months in the IV group and 14.1 months in the IP group (p=0.42). IP chemotherapy was not predictive of progression-free survival in the Cox model adjusted for age and residual disease status (HR=1.22, 95% CI=0.62-2.4, p=0.56). Estimated mean survival was 68.9 months in the IV group and 37.5 months in the IP group (p=0.85).
Conclusions: Survival benefit associated with IP chemotherapy after optimal upfront surgery may not translate to the neoadjuvant setting.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.