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Weekly carboplatin, paclitaxel shows promise in advanced ovarian cancer
Women with advanced ovarian cancer who received weekly first-line carboplatin and paclitaxel demonstrated improved quality of life compared with women who received the regimen once every 3 weeks, according to results of a phase 3 study.
The weekly regimen also was associated with less toxicity.
The analysis included 810 women with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IC to IV ovarian cancer and an ECOG performance status of ≤2.
Researchers assigned 404 women carboplatin (area under the curve [AUC], 6 mg/mL) plus 175 mg/m2 paclitaxel every 3 weeks for six cycles. The other 406 women received carboplatin (AUC, 2 mg/mL) plus 60 mg/m2 paclitaxel weekly for 18 weeks.
At a median follow-up of 22.3 months (interquartile range, 16.2-30.9), 449 PFS events had occurred.
Researchers reported median PFS of 18.3 months (95% CI, 16.8-20.9) among women assigned weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel and 17.3 months (95% CI, 15.2-20.2) among women treated every 3 weeks (HR=0.96; 95% CI, 0.8-1.16).
Researchers used Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Ovarian Trial Outcome Index (FACT-O/TOI) scores to compare quality of life between arms.
Overall, FACT-O/TOI scores significantly differed between the arms (P˂.0001). In the group treated every 3 weeks, scores worsened significantly with each cycle. In the weekly treatment group, scores worsened after the first week and then stabilized.
More patients in the 3-week schedule arm experienced grade 3/grade 4 neutropenia (50% vs. 42%), febrile neutropenia (3% vs. 0.5%), grade 3/grade 4 thrombocytopenia (7% vs. 1%) and grade ≥2 neuropathy (17% vs. 6%). Researchers reported two deaths in the 3-week schedule arm and one death in the weekly treatment arm.
“A weekly regimen of carboplatin and paclitaxel might be a reasonable option for first-line treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.