title: Lapatinib plus capecitabine for brain metastases in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive advanced breast cancer: a review of the Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology (ASMO) experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated the clinical outcome of patients with brain metastases (BMs) from human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treated with lapatinib and capecitabine (LC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 203 patients with HER2+ MBC, who had progressed after trastuzumab-containing chemotherapy, were retrospectively evaluated in 11 centers between September 2009 and May 2011. 85 patients who had developed BMs before the initiation of treatment with LC were included. All patients had received prior cranial radiotherapy. All patients were treated with the combination of lapatinib (1,250 mg/day continuously) and capecitabine (2,000 mg/m(2) on days 1-14 of a 21-day cycle).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median follow-up was 10.5 months (range 1-38 months). An overall response rate of 27.1% was achieved, including complete response in 2 (2.4%) and partial response in 21 (24.7%) patients. Median progression-free survival was 7 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 5-9), with a median overall survival of 13 months (95% Cl 9-17). The most common side effects were hand-foot syndrome (58.8%), nausea (55.3%), fatigue (48.9%), anorexia (45.9%), rash (36.5%), and diarrhea (35.4%). Grade 3-4 toxicities were hand-foot syndrome (9.4%), diarrhea (8.3%), fatigue (5.9%), and rash (4.7%). There were no symptomatic cardiac events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LC combination therapy was effective and well-tolerated in patients with HER2+ MBC with BMs, who had progressive disease after trastuzumab-containing therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. caretta06@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benekli
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oksuzoglu
authors.forename: Lokman
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Koral
authors.forename: Arife
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ulas
authors.forename: Faysal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dane
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Turker
authors.forename: Mehmet A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Dogan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koca
authors.forename: Cem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boruban
authors.forename: Burcak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sevinc
authors.forename: Veli
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Berk
authors.forename: Abdurrahman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Isıkdogan
authors.forename: Dogan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Uncu
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harputluoglu
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Coskun
authors.forename: Suleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buyukberber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality*; D000069287:Capecitabine; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D000077341:Lapatinib; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011799:Quinazolines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000069287:Capecitabine; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D005472:Fluorouracil; D000077341:Lapatinib; D011799:Quinazolines; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human