EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF DIFFERENT PHARMACEUTICAL ETOPOSIDE PRESENTATIONS USED IN ENDOMETRIAL CANCER TREATMENT

OBJECTIVES: Etoposide is a chemotherapy drug used to treat small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, leukaemia and lymphoma. The indication to the use of etoposide in the treatment of patients with endometrial cancer is related in the National Therapeutic Form of Brazil 2010. Although not included in the National List of Essential Medicines (RENAME 2014), it should be considered to be included on RENAME 2016. This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic indication of etoposide 50mg and lOOmg in capsule form and 20mg/mL in injectable solution form in the treatment of endometrial carcinoma. METHODS: The research was carried out in the specialized literature on February 23, 2015, on Best Practice (BMJ), Dynamed and UpToDate databases, being used the DeCS and MeSH indexed terms: "Endometrial Cancer", "Cancer of the endometrium" and "Etoposide". RESULTS: According to the evidence on UpToDate database, agents commonly used in recurrent endometrial cancer treatment include doxorubicin, placitaxel and bevacizumab. On Micromedex database it was found the use of etoposide in the treatment of endometrial cancer in a phase II study, however, the use of oral 50 mg/m2/day etoposide produced no objective response in patients with advanced endometrial cancer. No evidence was found on BMJ and Dynamed databases. CONCLUSIONS: The suggested use of etoposide for endometrial cancer treatment comes from a phase II study with no objective response in patients with advanced endometrial cancer. Until now, other reports do not mention the use of etoposide or recommend it to the treatment of endometrial cancer. In conclusion, the indication of 50mg and lOOmg capsule form and 20 mg/ml injectable etoposide is not recommended for the endometrial carcinoma treatment.