Dose-dense and dose-intense chemotherapy for small cell ovarian cancer: 2 cases and review of literature

Small cell carcinomas of the ovary (SCCO) are rare and aggressive malignant neoplasms carrying a poor prognosis. Although multi-modality treatment including chemotherapy leads to a high initial response rate, the majority of these patients relapse quickly and die within 2 years of diagnosis. Because these tumours are rare, there is no consensus to support any particular approach to management. We present 2 cases and review the relevant literature to make a number of recommendations. The treatment of these unusual cases should to be individually discussed in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-modality treatment including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy should be considered for patients with limited disease. Conservative, fertility-preserving surgery may be considered in younger women with early-stage disease. Induction chemotherapy with weekly dose-dense and dose-intense carboplatin and taxane is useful. Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) may be considered in patients in remission after primary treatment with chemotherapy or surgery.