Combination chemotherapy with prednimustine, adriamycin, vincristine (VAP) in advanced breast cancer. A phase II study.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate VAP combination chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer: prednimustine 80 mg/m2 p.o. days 1-5, adriamycin 40 mg/m2 and vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 1st day in cycles of 3 weeks. Twenty-one women entered the study and 19 were evaluable. The mean age was 54.5 years (25-69) with an average performance status of 60 according to Karnofsky. Hormonal receptors were unknown in 10, positive in 6 and negative in 3. The dominant site of disease was soft tissues in 11, bones in 1, liver in 3 and lung in 4. Fourteen patients had as prior treatment cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF), two had tamoxifen and three none. Ten patients (52.6%) had a partial response with a mean survival of 7.8+ months, 5 patients (26.3%) had stable disease with a mean survival 6.6+ months and 4 patients (21.1%) had progressive disease with a mean survival of 3 months. Regarding toxicity all patients had alopecia, most of the patients had nausea grade I, whereas 5 patients developed mild leukopenia. We conclude that VAP is an effective, well tolerated chemotherapy combination in patients with advanced breast cancer which deserves further clinical trials.
Dept. of Medical Oncology, Metaxa Cancer Hospital Piraeus, Greece.
P A
PA
Kosmidis
G
G
Fountzilas
A
A
Athanassiou
A
A
Karabelis
N
N
Mylonakis
N
N
Tsavaris
N
N
Karvounis
C
C
Bacojiannis
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011238:Prednimustine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
D014750:Vincristine; D004317:Doxorubicin; D011238:Prednimustine