Mucinous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Separate Entity Requiring Specific Treatment

Purpose Invasive mucinous carcinoma of the ovary (mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer [mEOC]) is a histologic subgroup of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Chemotherapy for mEOC is chosen according to guidelines established for EOC. The purpose of this study is to determine whether this is appropriate. Patients and Methods Women with advanced mEOC (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage III or IV) who underwent first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were compared with women with other histologic subtypes of EOC in a case-controlled study. Results Eighty-one patients (27 cases, 54 controls) treated with platinum-based regimens were analyzed. The response rates for cases and controls were 26.3% (95% CI, 9.2% to 51.2%) and 64.9% (95% CI, 47.5% to 79.8%), respectively (P = .01). The odds ratio for complete or partial response to chemotherapy for mEOC was 0.19 (95% CI, 0.06 to 0.66; P = .009) compared with other histologic subtypes of EOC. Median progression-free survival was 5.7 months (95%...