Secondary surgical cytoreduction for advanced ovarian carcinoma.

Background: We evaluated the effect of adding secondary cytoreductive surgery to postoperative chemotherapy on progression-free survival and overall survival among patients who had advanced ovarian cancer and residual tumor exceeding 1 cm in diameter after primary surgery.

Methods: Women were enrolled within six weeks after primary surgery. If, after three cycles of postoperative paclitaxel plus cisplatin, a patient had no evidence of progressive disease, she was randomly assigned to undergo secondary cytoreductive surgery followed by three more cycles of chemotherapy or three more cycles of chemotherapy alone.

Phase III study of cisplatin with or without paclitaxel in stage IVB, recurrent, or persistent squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix: a gynecologic oncology group study.

Purpose: To determine whether cisplatin plus paclitaxel (C+P) improved response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), or survival compared with cisplatin alone in patients with stage IVB, recurrent, or persistent squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eligible: patients with measurable disease, performance status (PS) 0 to 2, and adequate hematologic, hepatic, and renal function received either cisplatin 50 mg/m2 or C+P (cisplatin 50 mg/m2 plus paclitaxel 135 mg/m2) every 3 weeks for six cycles. Tumor measurements and quality-of-life (QOL) assessments were obtained before each treatment cycle.

Cisplatin as second-line therapy in ovarian carcinoma treated initially with single-agent paclitaxel: a Gynecologic Oncology Group study.

Objectives: The platinum compounds are the most active agents in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma. Phase II trials demonstrated the activity of paclitaxel in patients with disease clinically resistant to platinum-based front-line therapy, and phase III studies confirmed that a combination of paclitaxel plus a platinum was superior to cyclophosphamide plus a platinum. This study evaluated the activity of platinum in patients with bulky advanced disease treated with single-agent paclitaxel as front-line therapy on a Gynecologic Oncology Group protocol.

Fatigue and gynecologic cancer.

Fatigue is common in women with gynecologic cancers and is thought to be multifactorial. Anemia, cachexia, pain, and depression are frequently associated with cancer and treatment-related fatigue and should be evaluated and treated. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network Fatigue Practice Guidelines are helpful in the assessment and treatment of women with gynecologic cancer-related fatigue.

A phase II trial of pyrazoloacridine (PZA) in squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix: a Gynecologic Oncology Group study.

Purpose: The Gynecologic Oncology Group performed a phase II study to determine the response rate to pyrazoloacridine (PZA) in patients with advanced, persistent or recurrent squamous carcinoma of the cervix.

Methods: PZA was administered intravenously over 3 h every 3 weeks. A dose of 760 mg/m(2) was given to the first 11 patients and was reduced to 560 mg/m(2) for subsequent patients.

Expression of a retinol dehydrogenase (hRoDH-4), a member of the retinol/steroid dehydrogenase family implicated in retinoic acid biosynthesis, in normal and neoplastic endometria.

Objective: Retinoic acid plays an essential role in epithelial differentiation, and retinoid homeostasis is disrupted in cancers of epithelial origin. The goal of this study was to determine whether hRoDH-4, an enzyme that can catalyze the first and rate-limiting step in retinoic acid biosynthesis, is expressed in normal endometrium and, if so, whether its expression is altered in endometrial cancer.

Study Design: Proliferative, secretory, hyperplastic, and neoplastic endometria were examined by immunocytochemistry for hRoDH-4 protein and by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for the hRoDH-4 transcript.