title: Eribulin in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer: A tertiary care center experience from India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains a major therapeutic challenge with limited treatment options this. Eribulin, an anti-microtubule agent, has been recently approved for this indication. There are sparse data from the Asian region for eribulin and merits exploration.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a single institution retrospective analysis of MBC patients treated with eribulin from 2013 to 2014. These patients had received at least 2 lines of prior therapy for metastatic disease. Patients received standard doses of eribulin and were monitored for toxicity and responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen patients were included in this analysis. They had received a median of 6 lines of therapy previously (including adjuvant treatment) and had significant visceral involvement (median 3 organs). A median of 4 cycles of eribulin was delivered. There were no complete responses; partial responses were seen in 33% (6/18), stable disease status in 28% (5/18) patients, and progressive disease on eribulin in 39% (7/18) patients. The median progression-free survival was 15 weeks (3.5 months), and median overall survival was 27 weeks (6.2 months). Significant Grade 3/4 toxicities seen included peripheral neuropathy in 28% (5/18) and neutropenia in 28% (5/18) of patients while dose reductions were required in 22% (4/18) of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eribulin offers a viable, well-tolerated regimen that provides meaningful clinical benefit in Indian patients with MBC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bajpai
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramaswamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gulia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005663:Furans / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007659:Ketones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D000095662:Polyether Polyketides
chemical_list: D005663:Furans; D007659:Ketones; C490954:eribulin; D000095662:Polyether Polyketides