title: Ifosfamide plus oral etoposide salvage chemotherapy for platinum-resistant paclitaxel-pretreated ovarian cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prognosis of platinum resistant ovarian cancer is very poor and the treatment of choice has not been clearly defined.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a phase II study with the combination of ifosfamide i.v. at 2.25 g/m2 (days 1, 2) and etoposide per os at 100 mg daily (days 1-10) every four weeks. To be eligible for the study patients had to be resistant to platinum and paclitaxel pretreated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-one patients entered the study. The median interval from the previous chemotherapy was 3.9 months. The median number of previous chemotherapeutic regimens was 2. Severe toxicities included neutropenia (41% of patients), leukopenia (29%) and thrombocytopenia (13%). Thirty-five patients are assessable for response. Nine patients responded (22% of the eligible, 26% of the assessable), four of them demonstrated complete response to chemotherapy (10% and 12%, respectively), while three patients demonstrated stabilization of their progressive disease. After a median follow-up of 18 months, time to progression is 3 months (range 0.9-14.4), duration of response is 9 months (2.5-11) and median survival is 13 months (2.5-37.4+).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of ifosfamide with oral etoposide appears to have significant but manageable toxicity and encouraging efficacy in platinum resistant ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Hellenic Co-operative Oncology Group, Athens, Greece. hecogoff@otenet.gr
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aravantinos
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dimopoulos
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kosmidis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bafaloukos
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kiamouris
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pavlidis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sikiotis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papakostas
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Skarlos
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018450:Disease Progression; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007069:Ifosfamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000494:pharmacology; D011379:Prognosis; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D005047:Etoposide; D017239:Paclitaxel; D007069:Ifosfamide