title: Gemcitabine and docetaxel for the treatment of children and adolescents with recurrent or refractory osteosarcoma: Korea Cancer Center Hospital experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We evaluated the efficacy of gemcitabine and docetaxel chemotherapy (GEM + DOC) in children and adolescents with recurrent or refractory osteosarcoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of 28 patients (20 male, 8 female) who received gemcitabine (675 or 900 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8) and docetaxel (100 mg/m(2) on day 8) at Korea Cancer Center Hospital were retrospectively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients (ages 5.0-19.7 years) received a total of 96 courses of chemotherapy (median 3 courses; range, 1-8 courses) and were followed for a median of 14.9 months (range, 0.6-81.4 months). Eleven patients received GEM + DOC after surgery as adjuvant chemotherapy. Seventeen patients received GEM + DOC as palliative therapy, and were eligible for response evaluation; there were three (17.6%) complete response (CR, including two metabolic CR), one (5.9%) partial responses (PR), and three (29.4%) stable disease (SD). The objective response rate (CR + PR) and tumor control rate (CR + PR + SD) were 23.5% and 41.2%, respectively. The median duration of response was 11.2 months (range, 2.8-14.6 months). Dose of gemcitabine (675 or 900 mg/m(2)) did not influence the response rate. Overall survival at 1-year was 53.6 ± 9.4% and patients who received GEM + DOC as adjuvant chemotherapy fared better than those who received GEM + DOC as palliative therapy (72.7 ± 13.4% vs. 35.3 ± 11.6%, P = 0.006).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GEM + DOC showed some activity in osteosarcoma. Better than expected survival after GEM + DOC was seen both in patients with and without surgery. These results may indicate that dose dense combinations of gemcitabine and taxanes (e.g., gemcitabine + nab-paclitaxel) should be investigated in bone sarcomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Bong Sup
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Juhee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Dong Ho
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung Sub
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Ji Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Jun Ah
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D043823:Taxoids; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000077143:Docetaxel; D000093542:Gemcitabine
keywords: docetaxel; gemcitabine; osteosarcoma; recurrent; refractory