Experience with hormonal therapy in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

The experience from using different hormonal trials in 33 ovarian cancer patients, who were beyond the stage of standard therapies and experimental cytotoxic therapies in a single institution, are reported. Agents used were progestins, an antiestrogen (tamoxifen), an antiandrogen (flutamide) and a GnRH-agonist (decapeptyl). Twenty-one patients completed at least 8 weeks of treatment. Two patients obtained an objective response (10%): one partial response on tamoxifen for 6 months and one complete response on decapeptyl for 38 + months. Two further patients achieved disease stabilizations on tamoxifen and flutamide for 6 and 8 months respectively. Although the objective response rate with hormonal therapies is limited in these circumstances the absence of important toxicities favor their use. It is suggested to further study this in patients who do not reach a complete response after standard induction chemotherapy, particularly in those with well-differentiated tumors.