Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer

Treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have failure of first-line chemotherapy is rarely effective. Preliminary pharmacokinetic and phase II clinical studies established the feasibility of delivering relatively high concentrations of cisplatin intraperitoneally via a semipermanent catheter, while using intravenous sodium thiosulfate as a neutralizing agent to decrease the nephrotoxicity of cisplatin. Sixty patients with advanced ovarian cancer, all of whom had failure of first-line chemotherapy (including cisplatin in 56 of 60), were treated with high-dose intraperitoneal cisplatin in combination with doxorubicin and/or cytarabine. Of the 46 patients evaluable for response, 19 (42%) showed an objective response, most often (12/19) disappearance of malignant ascites. No serious drug-associated morbidity was observed aside from three cases of intestinal obstruction which may have been due in part to drug-induced adhesions. It is felt that prospective studies to compare the efficacy of intraperitoneal chemotherapy with other forms of "salvage" therapy, as well as its use as initial chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer, need to be done.