Treatment and prognostic factors in primary peritoneal carcinoma: a multicenter study of the Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology (ASMO).

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with primary peritoneal carcinoma (PPC), and the effectiveness and toxicity of first-line platinum/taxane combination therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 79 patients with PPC, who were treated and followed up between December 2001 and August 2012 at 10 medical oncology clinics. RESULTS: All patients were female, with a median age of 63 years (range 34-79 years). Histopathological diagnoses included primary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) (n = 69) and mixed epithelial carcinoma of the peritoneum (MEC) (n = 10). Patients received first-line treatment with carboplatin/paclitaxel (n = 67) or cisplatin/paclitaxel (n = 12) combination therapy. Overall response rate, median progression-free survival, and median survival time in the paclitaxel/carboplatin group and the paclitaxel/cisplatin group were 74.6 vs. 75%, 15.6 vs. 37.8 months, and 41 vs. 70.3 months, respectively. In multivariate analysis, favorable prognostic factors were: ECOG performance status 0 (p < 0.001) and optimal cytoreduction (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: PPC is a rare, heterogeneous disease. ECOG performance status and optimal cytoreduction are important prognostic factors regarding survival rates. Platinum/taxane combination therapy is an effective and tolerable regimen in this patient group.

Paclitaxel plus doxorubicin chemotherapy as second-line therapy in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma pretreated with platinum plus gemcitabine chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel plus doxorubicin as a second-line treatment in patients with urothelial carcinoma, who had not responded to a prior platinum plus gemcitabine combination. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients received intravenous infusions of paclitaxel (175 mg/m(2)/h) and doxorubicin (50 mg/m(2)/30 min) on day 1. Chemotherapy courses were repeated every 21 days. RESULTS: The median followup duration was 13.5 months (range 2.8-22.4 months). Complete and partial responses were observed in 2 (5.6%) and 10 (27.8%) patients, respectively. Median overall survival was 8.9 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 6.2-11.6). Median time to progression was 3.8 months (95% CI: 2.7-4.8). The most common hematologic toxicities were neutropenia (n = 21, 58.3%), thrombocytopenia (n = 10, 27.8%), and anemia (n = 9, 25%). The most common nonhematologic toxicities consisted of fatigue (n = 15, 41.7%), nausea/vomiting (n = 13, 36.1%), peripheral neuropathy (n = 11, 30.6%), and mucositis (n = 6, 16.7%). Dose reductions by 25-35% were performed in 6 (16.7%) patients because of grade 3/4 toxicity. Anthracycline-related heart failure did not occur. CONCLUSION: 3-weekly courses of cyclic paclitaxel plus doxorubicin were found to be effective and tolerable in patients with urothelial carcinoma, who had not responded to prior platinum- and gemcitabine-based chemotherapy.