EXPERIENCE WITH HORMONAL-THERAPY IN ADVANCED EPITHELIAL OVARIAN-CANCER

The experience from using different hormonal trials in 33 ovarian canc er patients, who were beyond the stage of standard therapies and exper imental cytotoxic therapies in a single institution, are reported. Age nts used were progestins, an antiestrogen (tamoxifen), an antiandrogen (flutamide) and a GnRH-agonist (decapeptyl). Twenty-one patients comp leted at least 8 weeks of treatment. Two patients obtained an objectiv e response (10%): one partial response on tamoxifen for 6 months and o ne complete response on decapeptyl for 38 + months. Two further patien ts achieved disease stabilizations on tamoxifen and flutamide for 6 an d 8 months respectively. Although the objective response rate with hor monal therapies is limited in these circumstances the absence of impor tant toxicities favor their use. It is suggested to further study this in patients who do not reach a complete response after standard induc tion chemotherapy, particularly in those with well-differentiated tumo rs.