IMR Press / EJGO / Volume 37 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.12892/ejgo3267.2016

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.

Original Research
The trend of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity in ovarian cancer survivors and its impacts on daily life during and one year after treatment
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1 Gynecology-Oncology Department, Women's Hospital School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Eur. J. Gynaecol. Oncol. 2016, 37(5), 696–699; https://doi.org/10.12892/ejgo3267.2016
Published: 10 October 2016
Abstract

Purpose: To explore the trend of progression and regression of peripheral neuropathy (PN) induced by combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel, and the impacts on daily activities. Materials and Methods: PN was evaluated by nurse-based interview and patient-reported measures in their diary. The severity of PN scaled by National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria (NCI-CTC) before each cycle of chemotherapy and at three, six, and 12 months after drug withdrawal and coded as Grade I ~ V. Results: The authors enrolled 106 eligible patients with ovarian cancer who underwent six cycles of combined chemotherapy of carboplatin plus paclitaxel. No patients showed Grade IV and V of PN and it was gradually aggravated following the dose accumulation. About 29.3% of the patients presented no PN, 64.2% Grade I, and 6.6% Grade II after the third course of chemotherapy, but increased to 36.8% of Grade I, 25.5% of Grade II, and 34.9% of Grade III after the sixth course of chemotherapy. At one-year follow-up, the rate of PN still existed with the rate of 88.5%, 57.3%, and 38.7% at three, six, and 12 months after drug withdrawal. Thirty-one patients encountered accidents, such as sharp injury (14.2%), fall (9.4%), burn (3.8%), and cold injury (1.9%). Conclusions: A significant proportion of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer treated with carboplatin plus paclitaxel suffer long term neuropathy and it affects patient's daily activities. Specialized care is necessary to provide not only during treatment, but also months to years after drugs withdrawal
Keywords
Peripheral neuropathy (PN)
Chemotherapy
Ovarian cancer
Impact
Follow-up
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