To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Carboplatin As Effective As Standard Combination Therapy For Advanced Ovarian Cancer URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/C1902.htm Doctor's Guide November 13, 1998
LONDON, ENGLAND -- Nov. 13, 1998 -- Chemotherapy is commonly used after surgery to treat ovarian cancer. The ideal drug doses and combinations for chemotherapy are a source of constant debate and which permutation forms the standard regimen changes frequently. In the ICON2 trial, a research team co-ordinated by Dr. Mahesh Parmar from the cancer division of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit in Cambridge, England, compared a drug called carboplatin with a commonly used combined regimen consisting of three drugs: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and cisplatin (CAP). In this week's issue of The Lancet, they report that carboplatin was just as effective and substantially less toxic, than CAP. Between January 1991 and July 1996, 1,526 women were enrolled into 132 study centres in nine countries. All women had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The women were allocated at random to be given six cycles of either carboplatin or CAP, with three-week intervals. The dose of carboplatin was calculated mathematically (by the area-under-the-curve method). The CAP regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2, doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 and cisplatin 50 mg/m2. Data were collected at randomisation, six months, 12 months and annually thereafter. By February 1998, 728 women had died -- 368 in the CAP group and 360 in the carboplatin group, suggesting equivalent risks of death in the two groups. "We found no evidence of a difference in progression-free or overall survival between CAP and carboplatin," the investigators write. However, carboplatin proved less toxic than CAP, causing less alopecia (baldness), leucopenia (white blood cell deficiency), nausea and vomiting. Carboplatin caused more thrombocytopenia (low number of platelets in the blood). "Carboplatin is a safe, effective and appropriate standard treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer," they write. Related Links: The Lancet --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.