title: Chemotherapy versus radiotherapy in the management of ovarian cancer patients with pathological complete response or minimal residual disease at second look.
abstract: The management of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer with no or minimal residual disease at second-look laparotomy after aggressive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy has not been definitively established. We report the results of a randomized study comparing three more courses of the same chemotherapy inducing the response (21 patients) with whole-abdomen radiotherapy (20 patients). Thirty-eight patients responded to first-line chemotherapy and three had stabilization of disease. In eight patients tumor debulking was performed at second-look laparotomy. No severe toxic effects were noted in both arms. Bowel obstruction occurred in one patient treated with radiotherapy. At a median follow-up of 22 months, 11 of 20 patients in the radiotherapy arm and 6 of 21 in the chemotherapy arm progressed and 9 and 3 patients died, respectively. Although the number of randomized patients is small we stopped the trial because of the survival and progression-free survival advantage of chemotherapy-treated patients.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale per la Ricera sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruzzone
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Repetto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiara
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campora
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orsatti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rubagotti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosso
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D004317:Doxorubicin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D016190:Carboplatin; D002945:Cisplatin