Background Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) can be used for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women who have failed a first-line platinum-based chemotherapy regimen.

Purpose To analyse the effectiveness of PLD in the treatment of recurrent ovarian carcinoma (ROC) in terms of overall long-term survival.

Material and methods Retrospective observational study of all patients treated with PLD for ROC over a period of seven years (2006–2012). Data were collected from medical records which also stored patient characteristics, their disease, treatment received and results obtained. Effectiveness was mainly evaluated in terms of overall survival (median OS). Descriptive statistical analysis, survival analysis and cohort comparison (Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test) were applied using SPSS 19.0 software.

Results 109 patients were included, with a mean age of 60.6 years (95% Confidence Interval: 58.4–62.9). Stage III or higher was present in 88.1% of patients at diagnosis. 56.0% of all tumours were platinum resistant (PR), 35.8% platinum sensitive (PS) and the remaining 8.2% presented intermediate sensitivity (IP), for subgroup analysis IP was considered together with PS. The DLP-gemcitabine combination was used in 73 cases, 13 patients received carboplatin combination and the remainder (n = 23) received DLP monotherapy. In more than 90.0% of cases PLD was used as second-line treatment. The median OS observed was 78.0 weeks. The only factor directly associated with overall survival in a significant statistically way was increased sensitivity to platinum. The median overall survival in PS was 172.9 weeks versus 69.7 in PR (log rank p < 0.005).

Conclusion The addition of PLD when treating ROC was associated with significant increases in the long term median OS. The benefit obtained in this population (median OS 78.0 weeks) was higher than that reported in the literature (median OS 62.7 weeks)² and was found to be even greater in the subgroup of patients with platinum-sensitive disease (including intermediate sensitivity).

References and/or Acknowledgements

1. http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/000089/WC500020180.pdf

2. Gordon AN, Tonda M, Sun S, et al. Long-term survival advantage for women treated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin compared with topotecan in a phase 3 randomized study of recurrent and refractory epithelial ovarian cancer. Gynecol Oncol 2004;95(1):1–8

References and/or AcknowledgementsNo conflict of interest.