Treatment Outcome of Second-Line Chemotherapy for Gynecologic Carcinosarcoma

Abstract

Introduction: Carcinosarcoma is a rare cancer, and its prognosis is poor. There are few reports on the prognostic factors of patients with carcinosarcoma who receive second-line chemotherapy. Objective: To investigate the outcome and prognostic factors of patients who received second-line chemotherapy for gynecologic carcinosarcoma. Methods: We retrospectively investigated patients with ovarian or uterine carcinosarcoma, who were treated at two institutions from July 2006 to March 2018. All patients who had received second-line chemotherapy for advanced or recurrent disease were eligible. The efficacy of second-line chemotherapy and prognostic factors were evaluated. Results: Forty-six patients were eligible. Combination chemotherapy was used in approximately half (52.2%) of the patients. The response rate and disease control rate of second-line chemotherapy were 32.6 and 60.9%, respectively. The median follow-up period was 11.0 (range, 8.8–107.5) months. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 6.3 (95% CI, 3.2–7.5) months and 12.9 (95% CI, 7.8–16.0) months, respectively. In the multivariate analysis of overall survival, a treatment-free interval >180 days was a significant good prognostic factor. The median overall survival was 7.8 (95% CI, 5.1–10.5) months in the <180 days group and 16.4 (95% CI, 13.1–130.6) months in the >180 days group (p = 0.0052; hazard ratio, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.10–0.66), respectively. Conclusion: The outcome of gynecologic carcinosarcoma in the second-line setting is poor, especially in patients with a short treatment-free interval.