title: Three-day topotecan schedule in heavily pretreated recurrent ovarian cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical benefit of a 3-day topotecan schedule in heavily pretreated recurrent ovarian cancer patients scheduled for palliative treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligibility criteria were 2 or more prior chemotherapy regimens, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or less; adequate organ function, assessable disease by serum CA-125 measurement before each cycle; and 1 or more cycle of topotecan (1.5 mg/m per day) on 3 consecutive days of a 28-day treatment cycle. Toxicity was graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria version 3. Tumor response, stable disease, and progression were evaluated on the basis of CA-125 levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 68 patients were considered eligible for the study. Median age was 58 years (range, 40-77 years), and the median number of prior chemotherapy regimens was 2 (range, 2-6). A total of 272 cycles of topotecan were administered, with a median of 4 cycles per patient (range, 1-8). No treatment delays or dose reduction was recorded. Major toxicities were grade 3/4 (18%) neutropenia, neutropenic fever (6%), grade 4 thrombocytopenia (3%), requirements for blood (5%), and platelet transfusions (3%). Thirty-five (54%) of the 64 evaluable patients showed a clinical benefit. Of these, 11 patients (17%) had a partial response, and 24 (37%) had stable disease with a median time to progression of 7.5 months (range, 6-10 months) and 4 months (range, 2-6 months), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than half of heavily pretreated ovarian cancer patients may benefit from 3-day topotecan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Calcagno
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bellati
authors.forename: Innocenza
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Palaia
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Plotti
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basile
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pastore
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arrivi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Angioli
authors.forename: Pierluigi Benedetti
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Panici
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D019772:Topotecan / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D019772:Topotecan