Ifosfamide and paclitaxel salvage chemotherapy for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of ifosfamide (1.5 g/m2 i.v. on days 1, 2, 3) and paclitaxel (135 mg/m2 i.v. over 3 hours on day 3) with G-CSF (5 micrograms/kg/d subcutaneously, days 7-11) administered every 3 weeks on an outpatient basis in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-five consecutive patients were treated, 12 of whom had previously received two regimens. Twelve of the 35 were defined as platinum-resistant and 23 as potentially platinum-sensitive. RESULTS: Fifteen patients (43%; 95% CI: 26%-61%) achieved objective responses, five of them complete and ten partial. Objective responses occurred in 17% of the platinum-resistant patients and in 57% of those with potentially platinum-sensitive disease. The median duration of response was seven months and the median overall survival 11 months. The treatment was well tolerated and only 15% of the patients developed grade 3 or 4 neutropenia. With the exception of alopecia there were no other grade 3 or 4 toxicities. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of ifosfamide and paclitaxel was well tolerated and showed activity in patients with ovarian cancer who had previously undergone platinum-based chemotherapy.

The use of 15-methylated derivative of prostaglandin F2a for the therapeutic termination of pregnancy and management of late fetal death.

The administration of 15-me-PGF 2a for the therapeutic termination of pregnancy and management of intrauterine death of the embryo during the second and third trimester of pregnancy was studied in 92 patients. Of these, 52 came because of intrauterine death with an average gestational age of 28.7 weeks while the rest came for therapeutic termination of pregnancy with an average gestational age of 21 weeks. Successful abortion was achieved in 90 patients. The mean abortion induction time was 7.3 hours for patients with intrauterine death and 12.6 hours for the patients who came for therapeutic termination. The results and complications of the intramuscular administration of the 15-me-PFG2a are analysed in the present work.