Responsiveness of patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma to tamoxifen. A gynecologic oncology group study of second‐line therapy in 105 patients

One hundred five patients with Stage III or IV epithelial ovarian cancer whose disease had persisted or recurred after primary surgery and first‐line chemotherapy were given tamoxifen (20 mg orally twice daily) and evaluated for response. Eighteen percent of the patients responded: 10% demonstrated a complete response (CR) and 8% showed a partial response (PR). Thirty‐eight percent of the patients had short‐term disease stabilization. CR had a median duration of 7.5 months, with the longest lasting 17 months. For patients with PR or stable disease, the median duration of response was 3 months (maximum duration, 9 months). When estrogen receptors of tumor tissue from patients demonstrating CR were evaluated, eight of nine (89%) had elevated estrogen receptor levels. This contrasts with patients who had stable or progressive disease as only 59% of them had measurable estrogen receptors (P = 0.16).