Adjuvant docetaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy administered alone or with radiotherapy in a “sandwich” protocol in patients with advanced endometrial cancer: a single-institution experience

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the outcomes of adjuvant chemotherapy administered alone or with radiotherapy in a “sandwich” protocol in patients with advanced endometrial cancer.

Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of patients with staged III – IV disease who received adjuvant chemotherapy (docetaxel plus carboplatin) administered alone or interposed with radiotherapy between January 2004 and August 2010.

Results: Of the 35 study patients, 10 (28.6%) had stage IIIA disease, 15 (42.9%) had IIIC1 disease, 7 (20.0%) had IIIC2 disease and 3 (8.6%) had IVB disease. Nine (90.0%) of the 10 patients with stage IIIA disease received four to six cycles of adjuvant docetaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy alone. All 25 patients with stage IIIC – IVB disease and 1 patient with stage IIIA disease received radiotherapy sandwiched between chemotherapy cycles (total, three to six cycles). The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 73.0 and 87.0%, respectively, for all patients. For patients with stage IIIC – IVB disease, the 3-year PFS and OS rates were 62.4 and 81.8%, respectively.

Conclusion: Combination chemotherapy with docetaxel and carboplatin interposed with radiotherapy is efficacious and well tolerated for stage IIIC – IVB endometrial cancer. Adjuvant chemotherapy alone with docetaxel and carboplatin might be sufficient for stage IIIA disease.

Keywords::

• advanced stage
• chemotherapy
• docetaxel
• endometrial cancer
• radiotherapy

Acknowledgment

C Lan and X Huang contributed equally to the manuscript.