ABSTRACT
Despite an aggressive surgical debulking followed by front-line chemotherapy, most patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma die of drug-resistant disease. Drug resistance can be overcome in a subset of patients with hematologic malignancies and lymphoma with high-dose therapy (HDT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, suggesting that this therapy may also be value in ovarian carcinoma. We report the successful outcome of HDT and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) in a 41-year-old nulliparous woman who initially was diagnosed with advanced ovarian carcicnoma with FIGO stage IIIc. Her disease relapsed after 19 months from initial therapy of definitive surgery and intra- and post-operative chemotherapy. Subsequently, she received optimal debulking surgery and salvage chemotherapy followed by HDT with triple- alkylating regimen, composed of cyclophosphamide (100 mg/kg), thiotepa (500 mg/m2), and melphalan (100 mg/m2). Her pretranplant characteristics were platinum-sensitive and complete response state. She showed rapid hematologic recovery and mild regimen-related toxicity (Bear man's toxicity criteria), stomatitis (grade I), cardiac toxicitiy (grade II). She has been followed up for 36 months after the inital therapy and is doing well without relapse.