title: Docetaxel and epirubicin salvage regimen in relapsed anthracycline-sensitive metastatic breast cancer patients after anthracycline-containing adjuvant therapy.
abstract: Our aim in this paper is to verify the efficacy and safety of a epirubicin and docetaxel salvage regimen for anthracycline sensitive metastatic breast cancer patients who have relapsed after anthracycline-containing adjuvant therapy. Thirty-two metastatic breast cancer patients were treated with epirubicin and docetaxel every 21 days. Of the 31 evaluable patients, there were 13/31 (41.9%) partial responses and no complete responses. Median time to progression was 12 months (95% CI, 4-60 months) and median survival duration was 41 months (95% CI, 1.2-80.8 months). According to the Cox model, ECOG performance and response group were statistically significant variables, and visceral metastasis was a borderline significant variable with regards to overall survival. Although this salvage regimen showed a high rate of hematologic toxicities, it was a relatively active regimen with manageable toxicities and no cardiac dysfunction. We propose that this salvage regimen could be carefully used in anthracycline sensitive metastatic breast cancer patients who have relapsed after anthracycline-containing adjuvant therapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Hwa Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Kyong Hwa
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: In Keun
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sang Cheul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Sang Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Yeul Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jun Suk
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ae-Ree
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae-Bok
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Bum Hwan
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Koo