Dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy with epirubicin monotherapy in patients with operable breast cancer and >/=10 positive axillary lymph nodes. A feasibility study.
Forty-one patients with operable breast cancer and >/=10 positive axillary lymph nodes were treated with 6 cycles of dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of epirubicin (100 mg/m2) every 2 weeks with G-CSF support. A total of 240 cycles were administered, all of them at full dose and 19 (8%) with a delay. Thirty-eight (93%) patients completed the treatment according to the protocol. The relative dose intensity of epirubicin was 0.99. Grade 3 toxicities included anemia (3%), nausea and vomiting (5%) and alopecia (71%). After a median follow-up of 40 months, 16 (39%) patients were free of relapse. In conclusion, the present study has shown that the administration of dose-dense chemotherapy with epirubicin is feasible in the adjuvant setting with minimal toxicity.
AHEPA Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
G
G
Fountzilas
C
C
Nicolaides
G
G
Aravantinos
D
D
Skarlos
P
P
Kosmidis
P
P
Papakostas
G P
GP
Stathopoulos
E
E
Kontostolis
D
D
Bafaloukos
N
N
Pavlidis
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D015251:Epirubicin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged
D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor; D015251:Epirubicin