Gemcitabine as a single agent for ovarian cancer – pro
Gemcitabine is NCCN listed a single agent for second line therapy in platin resistant women and is considered an appropriate second line option even as a single agent. Studies showed that adding cisplatin or carboplatin produces better results, but not all women can receiove these drugs, either becasue of toxicity or because they are platinum insensitive, and gemcitabine can be used alone.
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Biweekly gemcitabine-paclitaxel, gemcitabine-carboplatin, or gemcitabine-cisplatin as first-line treatment in metastatic breast cancer after anthracycline failure: a phase II randomized selection trial.Breast Cancer. 2011 Jul;18(3):203-12
Loesch D, Asmar L, McIntyre K, Doane L, Monticelli M, Paul D, Vukelja S, Orlando M, Vaughn LG, Zhan F, Boehm KA, O’Shaughnessy JA
Phase II trial of gemcitabine/carboplatin (plus trastuzumab in HER2-positive disease) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Clin Breast Cancer. 2008 Apr;8(2):178-86.
D. Lorusso, A. Di Stefano, F. Fanfani & G. Scambia, Role of gemcitabine in ovarian cancer treatment. Annals of Oncology 17 (Supplement 5): v188–v194,
NCCN OVARIAN, OV-D,1 2015