To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: ASCO: Advanced Cervical Cancer Can Be Successfully Downstaged With Pre-Surgery Carboplatin And Docetaxel URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1FAF66.htm Doctor's Guide May 13, 2001
By Ed Susman Special to DG News
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- May 12, 2001 -- German researchers have successfully downstaged women from inoperable advanced cervical cancer to operable status by treating them with weekly courses of carboplatin and docetaxel.
Of 17 women in this study-the majority presenting with locally advance primary cervical cancer, but four with recurrent cervical cancer-all but two were able to be downstaged so that a radial hysterectomy could be performed.
Daniel Rein, MD, a fellow in gynecologic oncology at Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf Medical Center, presented the findings yesterday (May 11) at the 37th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Three of the women achieved complete remission of their cancer with the chemotherapy regimen alone. However, they still underwent the surgery.
"We sent the two women who did not downstage to an operable disease to surgery anyway," Dr. Rein said. Not surprisingly, surgeons were unable to achieve clear margins in these patients who then were assigned radiation treatment.
"The other women have been clear of cancer for as long as 30 months," Dr. Rein said, but doctors won't comment on their prognosis until they have been recurrence-free for at least three years.
He said the median age of the women in the study was 45 years, ranging from age 30 to age 57. There was no standard of treatment for women in this disease state, but treatment with carboplatin historically resulted in a 23 percent response rate, he said. Since there was no known overlapping mechanism of action with docetaxel, a weekly regimen was initiated, he said.
The outpatient therapy was delivered weekly for a minimum of 12 weeks, although some women received as many as 59 weeks of therapy. No high level toxicities occurred, said Dr. Rein, who performed the study while working with colleagues at the University of Cologne Medical Center.
"This work fits in the model we have seen in lung cancer, esophageal cancer and rectal cancer," said Richard Mansour, MD, associate clinical professor of medicine at the Louisiana State University Medical School, Shreveport, Louisiana.
"It really looks good to me," Dr. Mansour said. "His patients achieved a 77 percent response rate in this disease. Even something half that good is a big advance over what we get now." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.