Background & objective: Recurrent ovarian cancer is associated with a poor prognosis, and optimal management for this problem is not well defined. The purpose of the study was to evaluate treatment opportunity for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.
Methods: Fifty-four cases of recurrent ovarian cancer during 1990 to 2000 were randomly selected to compare the effect of treatment opportunity on the outcome. All the clinical data related to the recurrent ovarian cancer were collected. The difference in survival was calculated by the Cox model.
Results: The multivariate analysis showed that the platinum-free-interval >6 months and the surgery followed salvage chemotherapy were associated with a significant prolongation of survival for the patients with recurrent ovarian cancer(P< 0.05). The odds ratio was 0.389 for the patients whose platinum-free-interval was more than 6 months as compared to that of the platinum-free-interval < 6 months. The OR was 4.194 for the patients who were only with salvage chemotherapy as compared to that with surgery followed salvage chemotherapy. The numbers of chemotherapy cycles may offer some effect on the survival (P=0.07). The odds ratio(OR) was 0.346 for the patients whose chemotherapy cycles were more than 10 as compared to that of chemotherapy cycles < 6. The timing of the beginning of the retreatment and chemotherapy regiments were failed to demonstrate an improvement in survival(P >0.05).
Conclusion: The treatment opportunity for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer is depend on the platinum-free-interval of the patients. A strategy of secondary surgical cytoreduction followed salvage chemotherapy is suggested for the patients whose platinum-free-interval >6 months. The goal of the treatment for platinum-resistant patients is to improve the quality of life.