The combination of cisplatin and topotecan as a second-line treatment for patients with advanced/recurrent uterine cervix cancer

We retrospectively reviewed outcomes of treatments with cisplatin and topotecan in patients with previously-treated uterine cervix cancer. We analyzed the medical records of patients with advanced (stage IVB) or recurrent or persistent squamous or non-squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, who were treated with cisplatin and topotecan as a second-line chemotherapy between January 2000 and December 2015. The patients were treated with a combination of cisplatin (50 mg/m(2) for 1 day) and topotecan (0.75 mg/m(2) for 3 days) once every 3 weeks. Treatment response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed in all patients and between responder and non-responder groups (responders showed at least a partial response to prior systemic chemotherapy). Thirty-nine patients with a median age of 47 years (range, 32–73 years) were treated with cisplatin and topotecan. The median PFS was 4.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–7.9 months) and the median OS was 14.1 months (95% CI, 10.0–18.2 months). The overall response rate (ORR) was 30.8%, and the disease control rate was 56.4%. The ORR was significantly better in the responder group compared with the non-responder group (50.0% vs 10.5%; P = .008). All patients reported some grade of hematological toxicity. The most frequently encountered toxicity was anemia, with a rate of 59.7% for any grade and 13.2% for grade 3 or 4. The combination of cisplatin and topotecan was effective as second-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced/recurrent uterine cervix cancer.