Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy With Six Cycles Of Carboplatin And Paclitaxel In Advanced Ovarian Cancer Patients Not Candidates For Optimal Primary Surgery: Safety And Effectivenes

5540 Background: Primary debulking surgery (PDS) has been considered the standard of treatment in advanced ovarian cancer, while neoadjuvant chemotherapy, three cycles followed by interval debulking (ID) surgery, is a valid treatment alternative for patients with non-resectable disease. This study aimed to show the efficacy and safety of six cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (N-CT) followed by cytoreduction, a single institution experience. Methods: Aretrospective analysis was performed of all patients (pts) with advanced ovarian cancer treated with platinum based N-CT, between January/2004 and February/2012. Results: 97 pts underwent N-CT in our institution; 78.1% and 18.8% the patients had extensive stage IIIC or IV disease at diagnosis, respectively. Median age 60 years (36 – 82). Histologic types: serous 84.5%, adenocarcinoma not specified 11.3%, endometrioide 1.0%. A median of six cycles of chemotherapy were performed. Patients did not received chemotherapy after debulking surgery. During the treatment 31.4% had grade 3/4 toxicity, the most commonly observed toxicities were hematologic toxicities and nausea, four (4.1%) patients died during chemotherapy due to disease progression. After N-CT 24.7% achieved clinical complete response, 57.7% partial response and 12.4% disease progression. From this cohort 63.1% underwent a complete resection of all macroscopic and microscopic disease (R0). Median length of hospital stay and postoperative ICU stay was 5 and 0.8 days respectively, surgical complications were not common however five (7.1%) patients needed second surgery due to operatory complications and 19 pts (27.1%) needed blood transfusion after debulking. With a median follow up of 21.8 months (0.5-139.7), median overall survival and chemotherapy-free interval were 57,7 and 9,5 months, respectively. Conclusions: Six cycles of neoadjuvant carboplatin and paclitaxel is safe, effective and does not increase perioperative and postoperative complications for patients with stage IIIC-IV not candidates for optimal/R0 PDS. The overall survival of this cohort is higher than those treated with interval debulking surgery.