Chemotherapy with high dose ifosfamide/mesna plus cisplatin for the treatment of ovarian cancer: a study of the Grupo de Estudio y Tratamiento Latino-Americano del Cancer.

Twenty-one evaluable patients with FIGO stages II-IV epithelial ovarian cancer, median age 57 (range 47-75 years), were treated with ifosfamide (IF), 3 g/m2 diluted in 500 ml saline solution, 8 hour intravenous (i.v.) infusion on days 1-5; mesna 20% of IF dose, i.v. bolus injection, was given at hours 0 and 4; mesna 40% of IF dose by oral route at hours 8 and 12, days 1-5; plus cisplatin 20 mg/m2 diluted in 500 ml saline solution, 2 hour i.v. infusion, days 1-5. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks. All patients had metastatic lesions (mesentery, pleura, colon, cervix, abdominal wall, lung, liver, bladder, and nodes). Toxicity ranged from mild to moderate. All patients experienced alopecia, nausea, and vomiting. Neutropenia and anemia ranged from mild to moderate. One patient experienced mild brain confusion and two patients microscopic hematuria. Ten clinically complete responses (47%) and five clinically partial responses (23%) were registered, for an overall 70% objective response. However, after a second look performance in 10 patients with clinically complete response, six of 10 patients showed a pathological complete response and four showed pathological partial response. The median duration of complete response is about 33 months, and median partial response duration is 14 months. Although the numbers are small, these data indicate that combination chemotherapy with high dose ifosfamide/mesna plus cisplatin may be an active treatment for advanced ovarian carcinoma.