A new platinum based form of treatment has been found to offer encouraging results in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Experts at the National Cancer Centre in Japan say that the development of docetaxel in conjunction with other substances could be an effective alternative to existing courses of treatment such as taxane.

Lead researcher N. Katsumata, from the department of medical oncology, said that clinical studies showed that docetaxel-carboplatin was effective and offered a reduced number of side effects.

'The taxanes paclitaxel and docetaxel are potent chemotherapeutic agents that block tubulin depolymerization, leading to the inhibition of microtubule dynamics and cell cycle arrest,' the researchers told Medical Devices and Surgical Technology Week.

'Although docetaxel and paclitaxel share a mutual tubulin binding site, mechanistic and pharmacological differences exist between these agents. For example, docetaxel has increased potency and an improved therapeutic index compared with paclitaxel, and its short 1-h infusion offers a substantial clinical advantage over the prolonged infusion durations required with paclitaxel,' he continued.

'In clinical studies, docetaxel monotherapy demonstrated good response rates and an acceptable toxicity profile in both paclitaxel- and platinum-refractory ovarian cancer patients,' he went on.

Experts were particularly pleased with the implications for neurotoxicity - a dominant side effect with both paclitaxel and cisplatin - which occurred at a low incidence with docetaxel, making it a 'promising agent for combining cisplatin and other platinum compounds'.

In Phase II studies the combination of docetaxel with either cisplatin or carboplatin yielded response rates of 69 per cent to 74 per cent and 81 per cent to 87 per cent.

The researchers concluded that while paclitaxel-carboplatin remains the standard treatment for the management of advanced ovarian cancer, docetaxel-carboplatin appears to be 'a promising alternative'.