Paclitaxel–Anthracycline Combination Chemotherapy in Relapsing Advanced Ovarian Cancer after Platinum-Based Chemotherapy: A Pilot Study

Despite high response rates with platinum-based front-line chemotherapy, the prognosis for advanced ovarian carcinoma (AOC) is poor. Salvage chemotherapy for recurrent AOC was of little benefit before paclitaxel as single-agent therapy showed appreciable efficacy. Anthracyclines are effective, but are not often part of first-line therapy. In this pilot study, we investigated the feasibility of an anthracycline plus paclitaxel combination therapy for recurrent AOC. Twenty-four patients received 150 mg/m²paclitaxel on day 1, with either 50 mg/m²doxorubicin on day 1 or 75 mg/m²epirubicin on day 1 every 3 weeks. A 27% overall response rate was obtained. Myelosuppression was the major toxicity, but was manageable. No myocardiac toxicity was observed. We conclude that paclitaxel–anthracyclines is a promising salvage combination therapy in AOC that should be investigated further.