Background: Ovarian metastases from gastrointestinal tumours frequently lead to locoregional complications and undermine quality of life. The chemosensitivity of ovarian metastases from gastric cancer is unknown.
Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of modern chemotherapy regimens in first-line treatment for patients with ovarian metastases from gastric cancer.
Methods: All consecutive patients with ovarian metastases from gastric cancer who received at least one cycle of chemotherapy were included in this retrospective study.
Results: Thirty-five patients were included (median age, 50.5 years; synchronous ovarian metastases, 60%). Seventeen patients (48.6%) underwent oophorectomy. Patients were treated with first-line chemotherapy based on platinum (n=14), irinotecan (n=8), taxane plus platinum (n=4) or epirubicin plus platinum (n=9). The median PFS and OS were 6.8 and 18.8 months, respectively. The objective response rate (ORR) for extra-ovarian (13.6%) and ovarian (20.9%) metastatic sites was not significantly different (p=0.55). There was no significant difference in terms of ORR on ovarian metastatic site according to the first-line chemotherapy (p=0.21). In multivariate analysis, oophorectomy was an independent prognostic factor for OS (p<0.01).
Conclusions: This study suggests that ovarian metastases from gastric cancer are not more resistant than extra-ovarian metastases, and that oophorectomy is an independent prognostic factor significantly linked to OS. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.
Keywords: Chemosensitivity; Gastric cancer; Oophorectomy; Ovarian metastases.
Copyright © 2015 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.