Literature Search Strategy
The literature was searched using MEDLINE (OVID: 1966 through January 2006), EMBASE OVID: (1988 through January 2006), the Cochrane Library (OVID; Issue 4, 2005), the Physician Data Query database, the Canadian Medical Association Infobase, and the National Guideline Clearinghouse. In addition, the abstracts published in the proceedings of the meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (1997-2005) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (2002, 2004) were searched for evidence relevant to this report. Reference lists of related papers and recent review articles were also scanned for additional citations.
The literature search of the electronic databases combined disease specific terms (ovarian neoplasms/ or ovar:.ti and cancer.ti. or neoplasms/) with treatment specific terms (intraperitoneal.ti. or ip.ti or peritoneal.ti.) for the following study designs: randomized controlled trials, practice guidelines, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.
Study Selection Criteria
Articles were to be selected for inclusion in the systematic review of the evidence if they were published reports or published abstracts of randomized trials that compared patients with advanced (stage III) epithelial ovarian cancer to first-line treatment involving intraperitoneal-containing chemotherapy versus first-line treatment involving intravenous chemotherapy only. Trials were to report data on some or all of the outcomes of interest: response, survival, toxicity, catheter-related complications, and/or quality of life.
Practice guidelines, meta-analyses, or systematic reviews explicitly based on randomized trials related to the guideline question were also considered eligible for inclusion in the systematic review.
Articles were excluded if treatment included immunotherapy, intraperitoneal radioactive phosphorus (32P), or hyperthermia. Trials were also excluded if they were reported in a language other than English, and data could not be extracted.