In vitro chemosensitivity testing in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma

In vitro chemosensitivity to cisplatinum, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, and 5-fluorouracil was investigated in 58 cases of ovarian carcinoma using Volm's short-term test. These in vitro results were retrospectively correlated with the relapse-free interval. Operative treatment in all patients (FIGO stage I (5), III (43), IV (10)) comprised maximum debulking procedure including hysterectomy, adnexectomy, omentectomy, pelvic and in most cases additionally paraaortic lymphadenectomy. Subsequently, all patients were treated with the cisplatinum-epirubicin-cyclophosphamide regimen. 33/58 tumors (66%) were sensitive in vitro (inhibition of nucleic acid precursor incorporation of more than 45% as compared to untreated controls). The median relapse-free interval of patients with sensitive tumors was significantly longer than that of those with resistant carcinomas (30.3 versus 22.6 months, respectively; P less than 0.05). Histopathological evaluation showed the majority of serous cystadenocarcinomas to be sensitive (26/33 = 79%, P less than 0.05).