Aim and background: To estimate acceptance, tolerance, and compliance of weekly paclitaxel (WP) therapy for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), and also to study the incidence of side effects and toxicities of WP in comparison with the 3-WP regimen.Materials and methods: It was a prospective interventional pilot study conducted over a period of 18 months in a tertiary care teaching hospital.A total of 38 patients of EOC were included and divided into two groups A and B, as per acceptance of weekly therapy.Group A included 18 patients who received weekly dose-dense paclitaxel therapy, and group B included 20 patients who received 3-WP therapy.After every chemotherapy course, evaluation was done for side effects, and they were recorded grade-wise from G0-GV according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v5.0 (CTCAEv5.0).Comparison and analysis of incidence and severity of side effects were done using the Chi-square test and Student's t-test using SPSS software (version 26).All cases were followed over 3 years to assess overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in the two groups.Results: The grade II and above side effects were significantly (p < 0.001) less common with weekly dose-dense paclitaxel carboplatin therapy as compared to 3-WP carboplatin therapy.Mean grade of severity of side effects was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the weekly regimen than in the 3-weekly regimen. Conclusion:The dose-dense WP regimen is acceptable, feasible, and well tolerated with significantly lesser side effects in EOC, though survival outcomes were comparable.Clinical significance: This study offers an alternative chemotherapy approach for patients with EOC, potentially improving treatment tolerability and patient outcomes.
Singh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.