The standard postoperative
chemotherapy for
epithelial ovarian cancer is a combination
therapy including
platinum and
taxanes. The aim this study was to investigate the degree of
platinum sensitivity in patients with relapsed
epithelial ovarian cancer according to the treatment-free interval (TFI) and the histological
tumor type. The medical records of 405 patients diagnosed with stage III/IV
ovarian cancer, including 107 patients who relapsed after attaining a clinical complete response with first-line treatment, were retrospectively reviewed. The degree of
platinum sensitivity was assessed by comparing the progression-free survival (PFS) following the second-line treatment. In patients with serous/
endometrioid adenocarcinoma who were treated with
platinum following relapse, there were significant differences in the PFS between the following groups of patients: those who relapsed within 6 months and those who relapsed between 6 and 12 months; those who relapsed between 6 and 12 months and those who relapsed between 12 and 18 months; and those who relapsed between 12 and 18 months and those who relapsed after 18 months. By contrast, in patients with clear cell/
mucinous adenocarcinoma who were treated with
platinum following a relapse, there were no significant differences in the PFS between patients who relapsed within 6 months and those who relapsed between 6 and 12 months, while there were significant differences in the PFS between those who relapsed between 6 and 12 months and those who relapsed after 12 months. With regard to the patients who relapsed after 12 months, the PFS of those with clear cell/
mucinous adenocarcinoma was significantly shorter compared with the PFS of those with serous/
endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Therefore, we considered it justified to classify patients with clear cell/
mucinous adenocarcinoma who relapsed within 12 months as
platinum-resistant and those who relapsed after 12 months as
platinum-sensitive.