Gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination chemotherapy in anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated advanced breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Anthracycline and taxanes are effective agents in advanced breast cancer and prolong survival times. Some patients achieve prolongation of life with capecitabine, gemcitabine, or vinorelbine, even after failure of both anthracycline and taxanes. We analyzed the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination chemotherapy in anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated advanced breast cancer.


METHODS
The medical records of anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients who received gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination chemotherapy at the Seoul National University Hospital were reviewed. Gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m(2)) and vinorelbine (25 mg/m(2)) were administered intravenously on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks.


RESULTS
Between 2000 and 2006, 57 patients were eligible (median age, 45 years), and the median number of previous chemotherapy regimens was 3 (range, 1 approximately 5). The overall response rate was 30% (95% CI, 18.1 approximately 41.9), and the disease control rate was 46% (PR, 30%; SD, 16%). The median duration of follow-up was 33.4 months, the median time-to-progression (TTP) was 3.9 months, and the median overall survival was 10.8 months. None of the patients with patients with anthracycline and taxane primary resistance showed a response and the median TTP for these patients was significantly shorter than that of other patients (1.9 vs. 4.4 months; p=0.018). Although the efficacy was unsatisfactory in patients with both anthracycline and taxane primary resistance, gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination chemotherapy showed comparable efficacy in anthracycline- and/or taxane-sensitive patients and the patients with secondary resistance, even after failure of second-line therapy. Grade 3/4 hematologic toxicities included neutropenia (18.1%) and febrile neutropenia (0.3%), and non-hematologic toxicities were tolerable.


CONCLUSIONS
Gemcitabine and vinorelbine combination chemotherapy in anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated advanced breast cancer was effective and tolerable.
Kim
Hye Jin
HJ
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Jin-Soo
JS
Seo
Myung-Deok
MD
Oh
So-Yeon
SY
Oh
Do-Youn
DY
Kim
Jee Hyun
JH
Lee
Se-Hoon
SH
Kim
Dong-Wan
DW
Im
Seock-Ah
SA
Kim
Tae-You
TY
Heo
Dae Seog
DS
Bang
Yung-Jue
YJ
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