Effects of third-line chemotherapy for women with recurrent ovarian cancer who received platinum/taxane regimens as first-line chemotherapy

Purpose: At present, it remains unclear whether the third-line chemotherapy has clinical benefit. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the effect of third-line chemotherapy. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 40 women with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) who received third-line chemotherapy after platinum/taxan regimens as first line chemotherapy. Results: In the first recurrence, 23 cases were platinum-sensitive and 17 cases were platinum-resistant. The cases for which the treatment-free interval from second-line chemotherapy (TFI) was ≥ 3 months had a higher non-PD rate than those with TFI < 3 months (86% vs 33%, p = 0.002). In addition, the median overall survival (OS) was longer for TFI ≥ 3 months than for TFI < 3 months (1195 days vs 235 days, p = 0.004). Finally, TFI was an independent significant prognostic factor by univariate (HR 3.28, p = 0.006) and multivariate (HR 3.21, p = 0.018) proportional hazard tests. Conclusion: TFI from second-line chemotherapy may predict a survival benefit of third-line chemotherapy.