Treatment Tolerance and Side Effects of Intraperitoneal Carboplatin and Dose-Dense Intravenous Paclitaxel in Ovarian Cancer

Objective

To describe the frequency of clinically significant side effects associated with adjuvant intraperitoneal (IP) carboplatin and intravenous (IV) dose-dense paclitaxel chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Methods

Patients with stage II to IV EOC who underwent upfront cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant IP carboplatin (AUC 6) every 3 weeks with IV paclitaxel weekly at 80?mg/m² were included. Side effects and the resulting changes in treatment are presented using univariate analysis and compared to major phase III RCTs.

Results

Between March 2013 and October 2015, 49 patients comprising 289 cycles of chemotherapy were included in the analysis; 43 patients (87.8%) completed six cycles of chemotherapy and 38 (77.6%) completed six cycles of IP carboplatin. Treatment was discontinued early due to neuropathy (5/49) and disease progression (1/49). Carboplatin IV was substituted due to port access (3/49) and poor postoperative performance status (3/49).Neutropenia occurred in 16 patients (32.7%). Fourteen patients (28.6%) required red blood cell transfusion. Thrombocytopenia affected nine patients (18.4%). Infection delaying treatment occurred in five patients (10.4%). Gastrointestinal and renal toxicity occurred in four (8.1%) and one patient (2.0%), respectively. Four patients experienced a taxane reaction. No patients experienced ototoxicity, fistula formation, chemotherapy leakage, or severe abdominal pain.

Conclusion

Carboplatin IP and weekly IV paclitaxel was well-tolerated with a side-effect profile similar to or better than previously published traditional treatment regimens.