| Objective= The objective of this study was to compare the overall survival of patients with ovarian cancer after treatment with cisplatin plus cyclophosphamide regimen (CP regimen) and after treatment with carboplastin plus paclitaxel regimen (CT regimen).
Methods= This study was a retrospective cohort design. The samples were new cases of postoperative patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who never received chemotherapy before and continued the treatment with chemotherapy at Suppasittiprasong hospital or at Ubon Ratchathani cancer center during January 1998 – December 2003. The survival data of
135 patients were collected until December 31, 2006 or until their last visit or death. The data were analyzed by using the Log Rank test to compare the overall survival under each variable and by using the Cox proportion hazard regression to determine whether there existed difference in the hazard ratios of the 2 regimens after controlling for important variables.
Results= Of the 422 new cases of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, 135 patients were eligible to be included in the analysis. Characteristics of patients= age, type of health insurance, disease stage and the proportion of receiving chemotherapy medication for 6 cycles in both regimens were similar, except for education since the proportion of patients who had at least bachelor degree in the CP regimen was higher than in the CT regimen. The Log Rank analysis showed that there was no statistical significance between the overall survival of each group
(41.28 vs. 44.30 months respectively; p-value = 0.80). In addition, the Cox proportion hazard regression analysis indicated that the hazard ratios of the 2 regimens were not statistically significant (HR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.40-2.44) after controlling for age, occupation, disease stage, complete course of chemotherapy medication (6 cycles), and types of insurance. However, factors related to patients’ mortality risk were the complete course of chemotherapy medication (6 cycles) and the disease stage. Patients who received medication for 6 cycles had lower mortality risk that those who received less than 6 cycles (HR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.17-0.67), and patients diagnosed as in the advanced stage had significantly higher mortality risk than those who were diagnosed as in the early stage (HR = 3.21, 95% CI = 1.5-6.85).
Conclusion= There was no significant difference in terms of overall survival between patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who received either the CP or CT regimen after controlling for important variables and at least 3 years of follow-up. |