title: A Phase II Trial of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with Genexol® (Paclitaxel) and Epirubicin for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) is yet to be established as the definitive treatment regimen for locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and toxicity of NC with epirubicin and paclitaxel.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between March 2007 and January 2009, 50 patients with LABC were enrolled in an open-label, phase II, multicenter study carried out at five distinct institutions. All patients were scheduled to receive four cycles of 60 mg/m(2) epirubicin and 175 mg/m(2) paclitaxel every 3 weeks, preoperatively, unless they developed profound side effects or disease progression. After curative surgery, two additional cycles of chemotherapy were administered to patients who had shown a positive response to NC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 196 cycles of chemotherapy were administered preoperatively; 47 of the 50 patients (94%) underwent all four cycles of designated treatment. Complete disappearance of invasive foci of the primary tumor, and negative axillary lymph nodes were confirmed in eight patients (16.0%), post operation. The cumulative 5-year disease-free survival rate was 70.0% for patients with complete remission (CR) and partial remission (PR), and 33.3% for patients with stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) (p=0.018). The cumulative 5-year overall survival was 90.0% for patients who achieved CR and PR and 55.6% for patients who had SD and PD (p=0.001). Neutropenia (42.0%) was the most common grade 3/4 toxicity. However, none of the toxicities resulted in cessation of the treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The encouraging pathologic response observed in the patients treated with epirubicin plus paclitaxel NC in this study suggests that epirubicin could be a substitute for doxorubicin, which is the most cardiotoxic agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chungnam National University, Daejoen, Korea.
authors.forename: Jinsun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chungnam National University, Daejoen, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeryong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chungnam National University, Daejoen, Korea.
authors.forename: Eilsung
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, Iksan, Korea.
authors.forename: Woonjung
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, Iksan, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwangman
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyunjo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea.
authors.forename: Sunghoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea.
authors.forename: Minho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea.
authors.forename: Junghan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Sungyong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Breast neoplasms; Epirubicin; Neoadjuvant therapy; Paclitaxel