Intraperitoneal therapy as consolidation for patients with ovarian cancer and negative reassessment after platinum-based chemotherapy

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IP) for the treatment of ovarian cancer has been studied in clinical trials and has shown clinical benefit when used as primary adjuvant therapy. IP chemotherapy also may play a role as consolidation after intravenous treatment. In 1998, a pilot study seas initiated using IP cisplatin (or carboplatin) combined with floxuridine (FUDR). Patients received a mean of 3.2 cycles of FUDR, which was accompanied by cisplatin or carboplatin in 88% of cycles. The median follow-up time was 20 months (range 6.0 to 57.6 months). Eight patients have had disease recurrence, with median time to recurrence 19.4 months from onset of protocol treatment. Only one patient has died of disease at 38.8 months from onset of protocol. Extra-abdominal recurrences (lung, brain, inguinal nodes) tended to occur earlier than peritoneal recurrences. Demonstration of an impact on progression-free survival and overall survival requires confirmation in a phase III trial.