[Two elderly patients with advanced breast cancer successfully treated by tri-weekly docetaxel].
Case 1: An 86-year-old woman had an invasive breast cancer with dermal infiltration. Bone metastases were found in the femur and lumbar vertebrae. She was treated with 2 courses of 70 mg docetaxel (DOC) chemotherapy every 3 weeks, after which the tumor dramatically decreased in size. Following this treatment, she underwent a radical mastectomy. Case 2: An 80-year-old woman had a 10 cm tumor in the right breast. Lung and bone metastases were also found. Two 80 mg courses of DOC reduced the lung and bone metastases, and the size of the breast tumor. She underwent a local excision. Hormonal therapy is a standard treatment for hormone-sensitive breast cancer in elderly patients. It is suitable for patients who have a declining quality of life (QOL), although chemotherapy shows a higher response rate and takes less time than hormonal therapy. However, it is difficult to continue chemotherapy until pCR is achieved, even for chemotherapy-effective patients because the side effects of chemotherapy are severe. Therefore, local excision after chemotherapy is necessary for breast cancer patients to improve their QOL, even if there are distant metastatic lesions.
Okubo
Aya
A
Dept. of Surgery, Tokushima Municipal Hospital.
Hino
Naoki
N
Ikushima
Youko
Y
Mori
Riho
R
Amano
Sachiko
S
Tsuyuguchi
Masaru
M
Sounaka
Yasuhide
Y
Wada
Daisuke
D
Yamasaki
Shinichi
S
Miyake
Hidenori
H
Miyoshi
Takanori
T
Ikawa
Kouichi
K
Ogata
Yorihiko
Y
Matsuoka
Hisashi
H
Kawakita
Naoya
N
Mikami
Chie
C
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel