Current status of taxane and platinum-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer

Abstract

Before 1993, the standard of care for the chemotherapeutic management of advanced ovarian cancer was cisplatin or carboplatin combined with a classic alkylating agent (typically cyclophosphamide). Studies in the 1990s have changed this standard to one of the platinum-containing agents combined with a taxane, paclitaxel, or docetaxel. This article reviews the pertinent studies regarding paclitaxel combined with cisplatin or carboplatin, discusses the remaining controversies surrounding how best to combine these agents, and provides opinions regarding the discordant outcomes noted in studies of the paclitaxel-platinum doublet. A separate article discusses the docetaxel-platinum doublet and how that might be considered an appropriate option for first-line therapy in patients with advanced, newly diagnosed ovarian cancer.