Clinical characteristics of patients with prolonged disease-free survival after primary treatment in advanced ovarian cancer: A brief report

Objective: Optimal cytoreduction and response to chemotherapy have been associated with prolonged disease-free survival (DFS), but there are limited data regarding the clinical characteristics of those patients with optimal 5-year DFS (5-rDFS) outcomes. Methods: A case-control study was performed on 32 patients who were progression-free and alive at 5 years with advanced ovarian cancer 5-rDFS from 1993 to 2005 for this institutional review board-approved study. Matching controls were identified from the subset of patients who died or experienced disease progression before 5 years. Results: One hundred sixty patients were evaluated. There was no statistical difference between cases and controls in regard to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, grade, race, preoperative cancer antigen-125 level, optimal cytoreduction, operating room time, length of hospital stay, or total chemotherapy cycles in regard to 5-rDFS. If a patient achieved complete response after primary treatment, the likelihood of progression-free survival 5 years or longer is 7 times more likely, (odds ratio = 7.2 [95% confidence interval = 2.3-22.4]; P = 0.0006). Conclusion: In this matched case-control analysis, complete response after primary treatment was the only significant factor associated with 5-rDFS. Further study is needed in patient and tumor characteristics to identify those patients who may have poor or favorable outcomes before treatment completion.