The safety and efficacy of cisplatin plus gemcitabine in recurrent ovarian cancer

Abstract

Background

The activity and synergy for the combination treatment of cisplatin and gemcitabine has been identified in a variety of human tumor cells, including ovarian cancer cells, and has been widely approved for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and biliary tract cancer. As the gastrointestinal symptoms with cisplatin therapy are commonly considered to negatively affect the quality of life of patients more than those experienced with carboplatin therapy, carboplatin is generally preferred over cisplatin in combination therapy. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of cisplatin plus gemcitabine in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

Methods

Patients with recurrent ovarian, peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer, who had failed with multiple other chemotherapy agents, including platinum, received cisplatin (30 mg/m²) plus gemcitabine (750 mg/m²) on days 1 and 8 of every 28 days for between 1 and 4 cycles.

Results

In total, 18 patients were treated with cisplatin and gemcitabine between 2006 and 2011. There were 1 complete and 5 partial responses, producing an overall response rate of 33.4 %. Median overall survival was 11.0 months. Grade 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were seen in 11.1 and 22.2 % of patients, respectively. Non-hematological toxicity was less than Grade 1.

Conclusions

Non-hematological toxicity with combined cisplatin and gemcitabine therapy was considered tolerable and did not impede patient quality of life. However, this drug combination should be monitored for hematologic toxicity.