Background. In North America, epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth most common cause of cancer death among women. Many drugs are used in the treatment of EOC, with gemcitabine showing recent promise. The objective of this study was to determine whether gemcitabine is a beneficial treatment option for patients with EOC.
Methods. The charts of 20 heavily pretreated women (median: four previous treatment protocols, range: 1-6) with a histological diagnosis of EOC were retrospectively reviewed to determine response. Eligible patients were treated with gemcitabine at a starting dose of 800 mg/m2 as an intravenous infusion on days 1, 8, and 15 of each 28-day cycle. The patients had a median age of 56 years (range 37-81).
Results. Response to treatment was assessed both clinically and serologically (CA-125 tumor marker was monitored). Of the 20 enrollees, 17 were evaluable clinically and 16 were evaluable serologically (2 were not evaluable by either technique).
There were two (12%) patients with a clinical partial response, six (35%) patients with clinical stable disease, nine (53%) patients with clinical progressive disease, and three patients that were not evaluable clinically. There were four (25%) patients with sero-logical partial response, six (38%) patients with stable serological disease, six (38%) patients with serological progressive disease, and four patients that were not evaluable serologically. Physician-reported toxicity included fatigue; however, this information was recorded inconsistently.
Conclusion. Gemcitabine showed modest activity in heavily pretreated EOC with a 12% clinical partial response rate and a 25% serological partial response rate. No serious toxicities were encountered.
