Treatment of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer with single-agent carboplatin has markedly inferior results compared with a conventional carboplatin–paclitaxel doublet therapy in vulnerable elderly patients, researchers say.

Based on indications that frailty might make patients appropriate for less aggressive chemotherapy regimens, the French-led team enrolled 120 newly diagnosed patients with a median age of 80 and a geriatric vulnerability score of three or more.

They were randomised to treatment with single-agent carboplatin or either conventional every-three-weeks or weekly carboplatin–paclitaxel doublets, in the trial which enrolled patients across 48 academic centres in six countries.

Median progression-free survival was 12.5 months in the conventional doublet arm, 8.3 months with weekly carboplatin-paclitaxel and 4.8 months with carboplatin alone.