Better survival seen with paclitaxel+cisplatin than with cyclophosphamide-cisplatin.(advanced ovarian cancer survival)

2002 NOV 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) have a 34% chance of long-term survival when treated with a combination of Taxol (paclitaxel) and cisplatin (TP) compared with those treated with a combination of cyclophosphamide-cisplatin (CP), who experienced a 23% survival rate after 6.5 years of follow-up.

These new data were presented for the first time October 22 on 680 women from the EORTC 55931 trial Intergroup Trial1 who were followed up for a total of 6.5 years, another 3.5 years after closure of the study. Dr. Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD, Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels, Belgium, is enthusiastic about these results.

"When we completed the Intergroup trial in 1997 we were pleased with the main results of an additional overall survival of 10 months with the Taxol combination, a significant finding for patients who have a life expectancy that is very low. So when we see that 34% of our patients are still alive after 6.5 years we are obviously encouraged by these results," Piccart added.

The long-term survival results from this trial confirm the superiority of the TP regimen over CP already seen in a similarly designed trial, GOG-111, completed in the early 1990s. After 6.5 years follow-up survival was extended by more than 50% with the Taxol combination (27% of patients receiving TP were still alive, compared with 16% on the CP regimen). The excitement following the original presentation of the results from both of these studies led to the immediate adoption of the TP combination as ...