Mucinous but not clear cell histology is associated with inferior survival in patients with advanced stage ovarian carcinoma treated with platinum-paclitaxel chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND
Mucinous and clear cell histology have been associated with adverse prognosis in ovarian carcinomas. The authors compared the outcome of these subtypes with that of serous tumors in patients who were treated with combination paclitaxel/platinum at their center.


METHODS
Four hundred twenty patients with histologically confirmed, serous (n = 367), mucinous (n = 24), or clear cell (n = 29) ovarian carcinomas, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage III or IV disease, and who were treated with paclitaxel/platinum after cytoreductive surgery were included in this analysis.


RESULTS
The median overall survival for each histological subtype was 47.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 37.7-57.7 months) for serous, 15.4 months (95% CI, 4.2-26.6 months) for mucinous, and 36.6 months (95% CI, 22.7-50.5 months) for clear cell carcinomas. Cox regression analysis showed that mucinous histology was an independent predictor of poor prognosis compared with serous tumors (hazard ratio, 0.360; 95% CI, 0.215-0.603; P = .001). In contrast, such a difference between clear cell and serous carcinomas was not found (P = .337). Median survival of patients with mucinous tumors and residual disease >2 cm was poor, averaging 7.1 months (95% CI, 4.6-9.6 months).


CONCLUSIONS
Mucinous but not clear cell histology is associated with significantly worse prognosis in advanced ovarian cancer treated with combination platinum/paclitaxel. Different therapeutic strategies should be studied in this entity.
Bamias
Aristotle
A
Department of Therapeutics, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece. abamias@med.uoa.gr
Psaltopoulou
Theodora
T
Sotiropoulou
Maria
M
Haidopoulos
Dimitrios
D
Lianos
Evangelos
E
Bournakis
Evangelos
E
Papadimitriou
Christos
C
Rodolakis
Alexandros
A
Vlahos
George
G
Dimopoulos
Meletius A
MA
D018262:Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017671:Platinum Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011379:Prognosis
D017671:Platinum Compounds; D017239:Paclitaxel