A phase II study of docetaxel weekly in combination with carboplatin every three weeks as first line chemotherapy in stage IIB-IV epithelial ovarian cancer: Neurological toxicity and quality-of-life evaluation

The purpose of this study was to assess the response rate, toxicity, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a series of advanced stage ovarian carcinoma patients treated with a first-line weekly docetaxel and three weekly carboplatin regimens. All eligible patients were treated with intravenous docetaxel (30 mg/m2) on Days 1, 8 and 15, and carboplatin (area under the curve, 5) on Day 1; Q21 days for at least 6 cycles. Neurological tests, questionnaires, and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and OV28 were used for quality-of-life assessments. One hundred and six patients received at least one cycle of primary chemotherapy (median 6.0; range, 1-9) and they were evaluable for toxicity assessment. Eighty-five patients had evaluable disease and received at least 3 courses of chemotherapy and were evaluable for clinical response rate. The overall response rate was 78.8% (95% CI 70.1-87.5%) and the biochemical response was 92.8% (95% CI 87.2-98.4%). The median PFS was 12.0 months and the median OS was 35.3 months. Thirty-six patients (34.0%) experienced grades 3 and 4 neutropenia, which resulted in the removal of 3 patients. Six patients (5.7%) experienced grades 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia. No patients experienced grade 3-4 sensory neuropathy. Epiphora, nail changes and fatigue were frequently recorded non-hematological side effects. The tolerable hematological toxicity (no need for colony-stimulating factors) and the low rate of severe neurotoxicity (only grade 1-2) and response rates in line with the standard 3-week paclitaxel-carboplatin regimen for advanced primary ovarian carcinoma after suboptimal cytoreductive surgery make this regimen an interesting alternative in selected patients.