The majority of patients with ovarian cancer have widespread abdominal disease. Before 1970, the response rate for patients treated with chemotherapeutic agents was less than 10%. With the introduction of cisplatin, the response rate tripled. However, patients treated with repeated courses of platinum-containing regimens may develop resistance to this form of therapy. Taxol (Bristol Laboratories, Princeton, NJ), a new drug, has been shown to be an effective agent in patients who have failed first-line or subsequent chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the ovary even in women with platinum-resistant disease.
