European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Chemotherapy for recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer previously treated with platinum - a systematic review of the evidence from randomized trials
On behalf of the Cancer Care Ontario Practice Guidelines Initiative Gynecology Disease Site Group
Purpose: To evaluate the chemotherapeutic options for women with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer who have received platinum-based chemotherapy. Methods: A systematic search of the Medline, CancerLit and Cochrane Library databases was performed for the period from 1984 to June 2001 to find randomized trials comparing second- or higher-line chemotherapy regimens in patients with recurrent platinum-pretreated epithelial ovarian cancer. Results: Seven randomized trials have failed to demonstrate the clear superiority of any one chemotherapy regimen in terms of improvements in long-term survival, quality of life or response rate. One trial detected a statistically significant difference between treatments in progression-free survival, which was longer with cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/cisplatin than with paclitaxel in women with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer. Another trial did not show a difference between liposomal doxorubicin and topotecan overall in women with recurrent ovarian cancer but a subgroup analysis detected a significant survival advantage for liposomal doxorubicin over topotecan in women with platinum-sensitive disease. Conclusion: The evidence available does not support firm conclusions about the preferred chemotherapy regimen for recurrent ovarian cancer. Randomized trials that compare new drugs with current standard treatments are needed.