The use of Fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin in women with heavily pretreated advanced ovarian carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Women suffering from recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian carcinoma go through several lines of chemotherapy, but eventually fail all conventional chemotherapy options. After failing multiple other regimens, we offer patients fluorouracil (5-FU) in a weekly regimen with leucovorin. For those women who failed to react to multiple lines of treatment, 5-FU has been shown to be a reasonable option with reported response rates of 10% to 33%. We report our experience with 5-FU+leucovorin in this patient population.

METHODS

This is a retrospective chart review of women treated for recurrent ovarian carcinoma between January 2003 and December 2009. Women with recurrent ovarian carcinoma who had been treated with at least 3 previous chemotherapy regimens and had received 5-FU were eligible for the study. 5-FU and leuocovorin are given at 600 mg/m weekly for 6 weeks of an 8-week cycle. Patient charts were reviewed for demographics and disease history relevant to the administration of 5-FU. Response was assessed clinically and by CA125 levels.

RESULTS

Fifty-three patients matching inclusion criteria received 5-FU during the study period. Twenty-five percent of patients achieved a partial response and 17% stable disease for an overall response rate of 42%. A median of 4 weekly doses was administered (range, 1 to 26). The median survival of the whole cohort was 10 weeks after the last dose of 5-FU was administered.

CONCLUSIONS

In this population of heavily pretreated patients, a significant response to 5-FU can be achieved. Unfortunately, the response is short lived and mostly partial.