title: Weekly docetaxel/paclitaxel in pretreated metastatic breast cancer.
abstract: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of weekly docetaxel/paclitaxel in pretreated advanced breast cancer patients. Twenty-six patients with metastatic breast cancer were included in this study. Three different schedules of treatment were administered. The starting schedule, A1, consisted of docetaxel 60 mg/m2 on day 1 plus paclitaxel 60 mg/m2 over 1 hour, weekly for 18 weeks; this schedule was considered feasible if at least 70% of the planned doses were given on time and without reduction. Schedule A2 consisted of the same doses administered on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks, and schedule B consisted of docetaxel 25 mg/m2 followed by paclitaxel 40 mg/m2 for 1 hour on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks for a total of 6 cycles. All patients had received prior anthracyclines, and 19 patients were pretreated with taxanes. Seventy-seven percent of patients had received at least 2 prior lines of chemotherapy. Twenty-five patients are assessable for toxicity and efficacy. A total of 109 cycles of chemotherapy have been administered, with a median of 4 cycles per patient (range, 1-8 cycles). The median delivered dose intensity was 27 mg/m2/week for paclitaxel (range, 18-50 mg/m2/week) and 17 mg/m2/week (range, 12-39 mg/m2/week) for docetaxel. Six patients received schedule A1. This schedule was considered not feasible due to neutropenia grade > 2, mucositis, and diarrhea grade 2, which required dose reduction/omission in 33% of administrations. For this reason, treatment in the following 5 patients was omitted on day 15 (schedule A2). Schedule B was found to be more feasible with 16% of dose reductions/omissions. The overall response rate was 68% (95% CI, 50%-86%) with a median duration of response of 10 months (range, 2-18+ months). Treatment was well tolerated; myelosuppression was rare and grade 3 cutaneous toxicity was observed in only 2 patients. In conclusion, weekly docetaxel/paclitaxel is active at low dosages and was well tolerated as salvage chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer. This regimen represents a valid option as a salvage treatment in taxane- and anthracycline-pretreated patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Oncology, University Hospital Santa Chiara, Pisa, Italy. a.gennari@do.med.unipi.it
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gennari
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guarneri
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Landucci
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Orlandini
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rondini
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Salvadori
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Pier Franco
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Conte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D000077143:Docetaxel; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D016019:Survival Analysis; D043823:Taxoids
chemical_list: D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel; D017239:Paclitaxel