One hundred and twenty-five patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) were postsurgically included in a multicentric clinical trial comparing the association of cisplatin (CDDP) (50 mg/m2 iv day1) + cyclophosphamide (CTX) (600 mg/m2 iv day 1) (PC regimen) versus the combination of PC + doxorubicin (ADM) (45 mg/m2 iv day 1) (PAC regimen), repeated every four weeks. After the sixth course of chemotherapy, patients without clinical evidence of disease or with surgically resectable residual disease (RD) underwent second-look laparotomy. Afterwards patients in surgical complete response (sCR) stopped chemotherapy, while partial responders or patients with stable disease received six more courses of the same regimen used as first-line treatment. Among the 67 patients with measurable RD, PAC regimen achieved a better clinical complete response (40.6% vs 20.0%); the difference approached statistical significance. In the 75 patients who underwent second-look laparotomy, PAC regimen induced a significantly higher sCR rate (62.2% vs 39.5%, p less than 0.05). The median survival (S) and progression free survival (PFS) were better in PAC arm, even if the differences were not statistically significant. Eight-year S and 8-year PFS were 32.7% and 24.7% respectively, for PAC arm, and 23.9% and 14.1%, respectively, for PC arm. These data seem to confirm the clinical advantage provided by the addition of ADM to PC regimen in the treatment of advanced EOC.