[Ovarian carcinomas. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy by needle]

Between January 1980 and February 1988, 61 women with ordinary ovarian carcinoma (OC) were treated with combined intraperitoneal and intravenous first-line therapy. For intraperitoneal infusions we did not use implanted systems which are often poorly tolerated and sometimes create non-negligible complications. We simply used a lumbar puncture needle left in situ for less than 2 hours. In second regard laparotomies, the 7 patients with stage I OC and the 3 patients with stage II OC were in histologically and cytologically proven complete remission, as were 34 of the 43 patients with stage III OC (79 percent) and 1 of the 8 patients with stage IV OC. After a mean follow-up of 56 months, the overall actuarial survival rate was 66 percent and the survival rate without recurrence was 54 percent. During the same period, 26 patients with recurrent OC were treated with second-line intraperitoneal chemotherapy. After a mean follow-up of 30 months, 10 were in apparently complete remission, and after a 27 to 61 months period 7 of these 10 patients had no recurrence. These results must be compared with those obtained with other salvage methods.