Cisplatin plus paclitaxel superior in cervical cancer?

Patients who have advanced refractory or recurrent cervical cancer after radiotherapy have limited therapeutic options, which are primarily palliative in nature. Cisplatin has been the standard chemotherapy in such patients. Now, results of a randomised clinical trial have shown that adding paclitaxel to cisplatin significantly improved the objective response rate and duration of progression-free survival. However, the combination did not significantly extend the overall survival duration, compared with cisplatin alone, and was associated with an increased incidence of myelosuppression. A formal discussion of the study has raised questions about the adequacy of the comparison with respect to the cisplatin dose and the failure to compare the paclitaxel plus cisplatin regimen with cisplatin plus ifosfamide, which also has demonstrated superiority over cisplatin monotherapy. The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists [Nashville, US; March 2001].