Chemotherapy in endometrial cancer

Abstract

Endometrial cancer is a highly curable malignancy when it presents as uterine-confined disease, but the prognosis for metastatic or recurrent endometrial cancer is poor. The median survival of women enrolled in trials for recurrent or metastatic endometrial cancer is only approximately 12 months. Hormonal therapy, most commonly with progestins, benefits a small group of patients. Cytotoxic chemotherapy is indicated as frontline treatment for the majority of women with metastatic or recurrent disease. Anthracyclines, platinum compounds, and taxanes consistently achieve response rates greater than 20% in single-agent trials of chemotherapy-naive patients. Combination chemotherapy typically produces higher response rates, although combination regimens have not always improved survival historically. Doxorubicin plus cisplatin has been accepted as the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) standard regimen based on phase III data. Recently, a COG randomized trial compared doxorubicin plus cisplatin to the triplet of doxorubicin, cisplatin, and paclitaxel, and it was found that the addition of paclitaxel significantly improved response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival. Moreover, chemotherapy has been reported to improve survival when