A trial comparing standard dose chemotherapy with high dose chemotherapy for advanced ovarian or fallopian tube cancer (HIDOC EIS)

Cancer type:

Ovarian cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 3

This trial compared standard dose chemotherapy with high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants for women with advanced ovarian or fallopian tube cancer.

Doctors usually treat ovarian and fallopian tube cancers with surgery and chemotherapy. But if the cancer has already spread when it is first diagnosed, it can be more difficult to treat. Doctors wanted to find out if higher doses of chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplants were useful for this group of patients. All women taking part had surgery to remove as much of their cancer as possible before chemotherapy.

The aims of the trial were to find out

Which treatment works better for women who have not had chemotherapy for their advanced cancer before
More about the side effects

Summary of results

The research team found that having more than one cycle of high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants were no better than the current standard chemotherapy for advanced ovarian or fallopian tube cancer.

The trial recruited 149 women aged between 20 and 65 after they had had surgery.

Half had standard chemotherapy
Half had high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants with their own cells

The researchers looked at the number of women whose cancer came back, and the number of women who were alive 3 years after treatment. They found that there was no difference between the two groups.

The main side effects both treatments were

A drop in the number of blood cells
Feeling and being sick
Diarrhoea
Hearing problems
Neurological symptoms such as numbness and tingling in the hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy)

The women who had high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants had more severe side effects than the women who had standard treatment. Fewer were able to finish their treatment because of this.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.