“In women with recurrent ovarian cancer, treatment with topotecan along with etoposide or gemcitabine offers no survival advantage over topotecan monotherapy, German and Austrian researchers report in the July 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.”
“In women with recurrent ovarian cancer, treatment with topotecan along with etoposide or gemcitabine offers no survival advantage over topotecan monotherapy, German and Austrian researchers report in the July 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
‘Combination therapies,’ lead investigator Dr. Jalid Sehouli told Reuters Health, ‘were associated with higher toxicity, but progression-free survival and overall survival were not significantly different.’
Dr. Sehouli, of Humboldt University in Berlin, and colleagues explain in their paper that although topotecan monotherapy is an established treatment, there was evidence to suggest that combination therapy may provide better results.
To investigate further, the researchers studied 502 women in whom ovarian cancer recurred following primary surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. They were randomized to receive either topotecan alone or in combination with etoposide or gemcitabine.
Median overall survival was not significantly different among the groups: 17.2 months with topotecan alone, 17.8 months with the etoposide combination and 15.2 months with the gemcitabine combination. There were no differences in either median progression-free survival or objective response rates.
The researchers note that the incidence of thrombocytopenia was lower with monotherapy (13.5%) than with the etoposide combination (21.5%) or gemcitabine combination (31.3%), and they conclude that combination therapy increases toxicity and does not provide a survival advantage.
‘Based on our results,’ Dr. Sehouli warns, ‘physicians should not harm their patients with such combination regimens.’”
Quoted Source: Topotecan Combo No Extra Help in Ovarian Cancer, by David Douglas, Matria Healthcare News, July 28, 2008 (summarizing the findings of Nonplatinum topotecan combinations versus topotecan alone for recurrent ovarian cancer: results of a phase III study of the North-Eastern German Society of Gynecological Oncology Ovarian Cancer Study Group; Sehouli J et. al., J Clin Oncol. 2008 July;26(19):3176-82.
Additional Information:
- Single-Agent Topotecan Still Best for Recurrent or Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer (Video Presentation), by Maurie Markman, M.D., Vice President for Clinical Research, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Markman on Oncology Video, Medscape Hematology-Oncology, Medscape Today, July 28, 2008.
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