title: Phase II study of single-agent gemcitabine in heavily pretreated Japanese patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gemcitabine has been recommended as an active agent for salvage chemotherapy in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, but no clinical study of this agent has been conducted for Japanese women with ovarian cancer. To evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of gemcitabine for heavily pretreated Japanese patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, we conducted a single-institute phase II clinical trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients had received a minimum of two previous chemotherapy regimens, In this study, gemcitabine was administered at 1000 mg/m(2) on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 28 patients participated in this study. Although 5 patients (17.9%) needed dose reduction to 800 mg/m(2) because of thrombocytopenia and granulocytopenia, all patients completed an average of 6.7 courses (range, 2-24 courses). The overall response rate, including five partial responses, was 17.9% (95% confidence interval [C I], 6.0-36.9). The median time to progression was 8.8 months and the median survival period was 11.2 months. Grade 3/4 hematological toxicities included leucopenia, 35.7%; granulocytopenia, 39.3%; anemia, 46.4%; and thrombocytopenia, 10.7%. However, no grade 3/4 nonhematological toxicity was observed. The mean delay in treatment was 5.0 +/- 7.7 days (range, 0-15 days) in a total of 562 cycles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Single-agent gemcitabine is an effective salvage chemotherapy regimen in heavily pretreated Japanese patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kinki University School of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi Osakasayama, Osaka, Japan. watanabe@med.kindai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoh
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Hidekatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakai
authors.forename: Tomomaro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Etoh
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoshiai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000093542:Gemcitabine