Remission induction with carboplatin-epirubicin-prednimustine followed by consolidation radiotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer.

Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was administered to 26 patients with stage Ic-IV ovarian cancer after radical cytoreductive surgery. All patients received six cycles of carboplatin, epirubicin, and prednimustine and had no clinical evidence of disease after completion of chemotherapy. They received whole-abdominal radiation and radiation to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes. This protocol was discontinued for five (23%) patients because of myelosuppression, progressive disease, or withdrawal. One patient had a small bowel obstruction due to intraperitoneal adhesions. The survival of ten stage-III ovarian cancer patients, who received chemoradiotherapy and were evaluable for assessment of treatment efficacy, was retrospectively compared with the survival of 11 stage-III patients who received chemotherapy only. At 36 months, a slight advantage of the chemoradiotherapy versus the chemotherapy-only group was observed (p = 0.11). These preliminary results suggest that adjuvant chemoradiotherapy may prolong the "no evidence of disease" interval of radically operated ovarian cancer patients. Toxicity is acceptable when second-look surgery is avoided and when subsequent radiotherapy is limited to patients with no evidence of disease.