This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of paclitaxel based combination chemotherapy by response rate and survival time in the treatment of recurrent endometrial cancer.

From May 1995 to February 2004, 27 out of 301 cases of endometrial cancer treated at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul were recurrent. We identified 11 patients treated with paclitaxel based combination chemotherapy and 7 patents treated with other combination chemotherapy, and then retrospectively estimated the survival times from the chemotherapy after recurrence to the death or last visit.

The non-paclitaxel based combination chemotherapy group showed partial response in 1 case (14.3%) and disease progression in 4 (57.1%). In contrast, the paclitaxel group showed 7 cases (63.6%) of partial response. The median survival time for total study patients was 18.0 months, 22.0 months for paclitaxel group and 15.0 months for the non-paclitaxel group, the difference being statistically significant (p=0.047). Side effect of chemotherapy such as leukopenia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia showed no difference between the two groups.

Paclitaxel-based combination chemotherapy may be the first-line chemotherapeutic agent in recurrent endometrial cancer patients if it's more effective than other combination chemotherapy in prolonging survival times.