Survival following the documentation of platinum and taxane resistance in ovarian cancer: a single institution experience involving multiple phase 2 clinical trials.

OBJECTIVES: There are very limited data in the oncology literature regarding the survival of women with both platinum and taxane-refractory ovarian cancer.

METHODS: To examine this issue, we retrospectively reviewed the survival of patients treated on one (or more) of four previously reported nonrandomized single-agent phase 2 trials (topotecan, liposomal doxorubicin, gemcitabine, docetaxel), involving women with well-characterized platinum/taxane-resistant ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancers. Following their most recent treatment with both classes of agents, patients must have either not responded to therapy or experienced a treatment-free interval of <3 months before documented disease progression.

RESULTS: The median survival of the 111 patients (median age 61) included in this analysis was 6 months (range 1-37 months). Whereas 36 patients (32%) survived for <4 months, 30 patients (27%) lived for > or =12 months following documentation of resistance to both platinum and taxane therapy.

CONCLUSION: With currently available antineoplastic drug therapy of platinum/taxane-resistant ovarian cancer, overall survival is relatively short, but a substantial minority of patients can be anticipated to live for periods in excess of 1 year. It remains uncertain whether such unexpectedly prolonged survival results from a biological response to chemotherapy or simply reflects the natural history of disease in a subset of patients with this malignancy.