Tamoxifen therapy of epithelial ovarian cancer.

The activity of the antiestrogen tamoxifen was evaluated in 23 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. All patients had received cytotoxic chemotherapy. The patients were given daily doses of 20 or 40 mg tamoxifen orally for a minimum of eight weeks. No objective tumor regressions were noted. In 19 patients disease remained stable for a median duration of 17 weeks (range: eight to 47 weeks). Estrogen and/or progesterone levels available for six patients did not correlate with stability of disease. The authors conclude that tamoxifen does not induce objective response in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma who have been treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy. However, in the current study about 80% of such patients had short-lived objective stabilization of their disease.