Feasibility Study on Biweekly Paclitaxel Treatment as Maintenance Chemotherapy in Advanced Mullerian Carcinoma
Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, 06/13/2012
Clinical Article
Minagawa Y et al. – Biweekly paclitaxel therapy is well tolerated by patients with advanced mullerian carcinoma and is therefore acceptable as a candidate for maintenance chemotherapy in these patients.
Methods- Thirty patients with stage III or IV ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cancers who underwent primary optimal surgery and standard 6 cycles of carboplatin/taxane–based chemotherapy and exhibited a complete clinical response were entered in this study.
- Paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 was administered biweekly for 12 cycles.
- Patients were evaluated monthly for treatment–related toxicity.
- Four patients, including 3 disease progressions and 1 bone marrow suppression, came off the protocol therapy.
- Twenty–six (86.7%) patients received complete treatment.
- Although the major toxicity was neutropenia, most of those patients (27/30, 90.0%) did not experience grade 3 or 4 neutropenia.
- Twenty–four (80.0%) patients showed persistent grade 1 neuropathy and the remaining 6 (20.0%) did not as a result of prior therapy.
- However, none experienced neuropathy progression during or after the protocol therapy.
- Most (17/22, 77.3%) of the completely treated patients experienced a regression of symptoms during and after therapy.
