Nonhormonal chemotherapy in endometrial cancer--a review

A review of single agents and combination chemotherapy, with or without progestins, in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic endometrial carcinoma is presented. Doxorubicin, hexamethylmelamine, and cis-diamminedichloroplatinum are considered to be the most active drugs for the treatment of this disease. To date, combination chemotherapy has not shown any advantage over single agent therapy. The role of progestins in the treatment depends upon the presence of progesterone receptor binding sites. Better designed, randomized multi-institutional trials, using these drug combinations or new agents, singly or in combination, are necessary to identify optimal chemotherapy for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.