Carboplatin-Taxol for Ovarian Cancer

This page is for people with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are starting carboplatin and paclitaxel, and for the people helping them. It explains how the two drugs work, how a cycle runs, and which side effects to watch. It ends with when to call for help.

"Carboplatin-Taxol" is shorthand for a pair. Taxol is the old brand name for paclitaxel.

Carboplatin is a platinum drug. NCI calls it the less toxic second-generation analog of cisplatin. Platinum drugs damage the DNA inside cancer cells so they cannot divide.

Paclitaxel works on a different part of the cell. It interferes with the internal scaffolding a cell needs to pull itself apart during division.

NCI describes platinum agents as the foundation of the chemotherapy regimens used in ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer. Paclitaxel is the usual partner.

Most chemotherapy is dosed by body surface area. Carboplatin is not. It is dosed to a target AUC.

AUC means area under the curve. It is a measure of total drug exposure over time, rather than a fixed amount of drug.

The label explains why. Carboplatin is cleared by the kidneys. Its clearance is driven mainly by glomerular filtration rate, or GFR. That is a measure of how fast the kidneys filter blood. So the dose is worked out from a formula that includes GFR.

That is why a dose might read AUC 5 or AUC 6. It is also why two people of the same height and weight can receive different milligram amounts.

Paclitaxel is dosed the ordinary way, from body surface area, so it is worked out from your height and weight.

The reference arm of GOG-0182 is a good anchor. That trial ran from 2001 to 2004. It randomized 4,312 women with stage III or IV disease. The control regimen was carboplatin with paclitaxel, given every 3 weeks, for eight cycles.

None of the four experimental regimens beat it. Median progression-free survival in the control arm was 16.0 months, and median overall survival 44.1 months.

Six cycles is also common. Both GOG-0218 and ICON7 used carboplatin plus paclitaxel for six cycles as their chemotherapy backbone.

A weekly variant exists too. The JGOG-3016 trial enrolled 637 patients. It compared a smaller weekly dose of paclitaxel against a larger one every 21 days. Both arms had the same carboplatin schedule. The weekly schedule was more toxic. NCI notes it did not worsen quality of life. NCI adds that the trial's positive results led many teams to adopt the weekly schedule, though later trials only partly confirmed them.

Paclitaxel carries a boxed warning for hypersensitivity reactions and bone marrow suppression.

The FDA label describes the standard prevention. Dexamethasone is taken by mouth about 12 hours and 6 hours before the infusion. Diphenhydramine and an H2 blocker are given by vein 30 to 60 minutes before.

Your centre may send you home with the steroid tablets. If so, that timing is the part that matters, and skipping them can mean the infusion is cancelled. Take the number of tablets your own team prescribed, at the hours they wrote down. Ring the unit if you have missed them.

The label also states the honest limit. Fatal reactions have happened despite premedication. Severe reactions, such as trouble breathing or a drop in blood pressure, occurred in 2% to 4% of patients in trials. After a severe reaction, the label says paclitaxel should not be given again.

The infusion itself usually runs over 3 hours in this setting, with a 0.22 micron in-line filter and a non-PVC administration set.

Carboplatin has a boxed warning of its own. It covers bone marrow suppression and anaphylactic-like reactions. The label notes those reactions can start within minutes of the injection. Epinephrine, corticosteroids and antihistamines have been used to treat them.

Marrow suppression is the dose-limiting toxicity. With single-agent carboplatin, the label puts the median nadir at day 21. The nadir is the lowest point blood counts reach after a dose. Anemia can be cumulative and may need transfusion. Vomiting is described as another frequent effect.

For paclitaxel, the label's main effects include low white cells, anemia, allergic reactions, nerve damage, joint and muscle pain, nausea and vomiting, mouth sores and hair loss.

Peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage in the hands and feet, sits apart from the rest. The paclitaxel label says it is common and grows more likely as the total dose adds up. It usually improves or goes away within several months of stopping. It is still worth reporting early rather than at the end of a cycle, because doses can be adjusted.

The order of chemotherapy and surgery is a real decision, and it has been tested directly.

EORTC-55971 randomized 670 women with stage IIIC and IV disease. One group had primary debulking surgery first. Then at least six courses of platinum-based chemotherapy. The other group had three courses first. Then interval debulking surgery. Then at least three more courses.

Median overall survival was 29 months with primary surgery and 30 months with the chemotherapy-first approach. The hazard ratio was 0.98, meeting the criterion for noninferiority.

Complications differed. Severe hemorrhage occurred in 7.4% of the primary surgery group against 4.1% of the neoadjuvant group. Deaths were 2.5% against 0.7%.

One finding outranks all of it. The strongest independent predictor of longer survival was the absence of residual tumor after surgery. Whichever order was used, the people who did best were those left with no visible disease.

Once treatment is underway, the next question is whether it is working. Response is not measured by how someone feels during a cycle. Side effects say nothing about whether the drugs are working.

NCI's summary uses progression-free survival and overall survival as the endpoints in these trials. In practice, a team follows scans and, in ovarian cancer, the CA-125 blood marker.

It is worth asking which of those a team is using, and at what points. A number moving in the wrong direction between scans means something different from a number that is simply not yet back to normal.

For the wider picture, see chemotherapy and how chemotherapy is given. For what low counts mean day to day, see low white blood cells during chemotherapy.

Both drugs in this pairing carry a boxed warning, and the two warnings point at different problems. Paclitaxel's is hypersensitivity. Carboplatin's covers marrow suppression and anaphylactic-like reactions that the label says can begin within minutes of the injection.

• Call 911 or go to an emergency department if your throat or tongue feels tight, or you wheeze or cannot get a full breath. Do the same if hives spread across your skin, or you feel faint. This can start during an infusion, when the nurse is with you. Say something immediately rather than waiting to see if it passes. It can also start after you get home, and carboplatin reactions become more likely over repeated cycles. Do not drive yourself.
• Call 911 or go to an emergency department if your stools turn black and tarry, or you vomit blood or material like coffee grounds. These can be signs of bleeding in the gut (MedlinePlus). Do not drive yourself.
• Call your oncology team at once, at any time of day or night, if your temperature reaches 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, or you have rigors. The nadir sits around day 21 for carboplatin. A fever between cycles is a medical emergency in CDC's words, and the antibiotics cannot wait. If you cannot reach the team quickly, go to an emergency department and tell them you are on carboplatin and paclitaxel.
• Call your oncology team right away if bleeding will not stop, you bruise easily, you see blood in your stool, or you are breathless with everyday activity, when lying flat or at rest. MedlinePlus lists these for carboplatin as reasons to call immediately, along with black stools and vomit that looks like coffee grounds, which go on the 911 line above.
• Tell your oncology team soon, before your next dose, if numbness, tingling or burning appears in your fingers or toes, or spreads further up. Report it as soon as you notice rather than at the end of the cycle, because doses can be adjusted. Do the same for vomiting you cannot control at home or mouth sores that stop you eating. The same goes for joint and muscle pain that does not respond to what your team suggested.

• NCI PDQ — Ovarian Epithelial, Fallopian Tube, and Primary Peritoneal Cancer Treatment (Health Professional Version)
• DailyMed — CARBOPLATIN injection, solution, FDA-approved label
• DailyMed — PACLITAXEL injection, FDA-approved label
• MedlinePlus — Carboplatin
• NCI — Infection and Neutropenia during Cancer Treatment
• CDC — Fever and Cancer Treatment