A comparative study on hematological effects of carboplatin plus cyclophosphamide and carboplatin plus paclitaxel chemotherapy for the first line treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer

Objective: To compare the hematological effects of carboplatin plus cyclophosphamide, and carboplatin plus paclitaxel chemotherapy for first line treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Material and Method: A retrospective study was conducted between January 2003 and May 2006 on 29 patients who received 145 cycles of carboplatin, area under the curve (AUC) 6 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/mm² (CC) intravenous and on 11 patients who received 65 cycles of carboplatin AUC 5 plus paclitaxel 175 mg/mm ² (CP) intravenous chemotherapy for the first line treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer. They had no history of hematologic disease and complete blood count (CBC), renal function and liver function tests were normal. Results: Both groups were similar regarding age, body mass index, performance status and stage of cancer. Hematological effects were found in 61 of 145 cycles (42.1%) in CC group and 33 of 65 cycles (50.8%) in CP group (p = 0.05). Twenty patients received all 6 cycles of chemotherapy in the CC group and 10 patients in the CP group. Fifteen of 20 patients (75%) and 8 of 10 patients (80%) had hematologic effect of at least one cycle found in the CC and the CP groups, respectively (p = 0.05). There were no treatment-related deaths in both arms. Conclusion: Hematological effects did not differ in carboplatin AUC 6 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/mm² regimen and carboplatin AUC 5 plus paclitaxel 175 mg/mm² regimen and both regimens were accepted adverse effect in the first line treatment of EOC.