my personal edition > breast cancer > news


  E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

DGReview

Docetaxel/Carboplatin Combination Effective For Salvage Treatment Of Metastatic Breast Cancer

A combination of docetaxel and carboplatin results in a 61% response rate as an outpatient salvage regimen for women with metastatic breast cancer.

Investigators from multiple institutions in Greece, including the University General Hospital of Heraklion, evaluated the efficacy and safety of docetaxel in combination with carboplatin in 36 women with metastatic breast cancer.

Thirty-five of the patients had received previous anthracycline-based front-line therapy, and half of these patients had failed to respond to front-line treatment. Twenty-eight of the patients, or 78%, had visceral disease.

Cycles of docetaxel 75 mg/m² as a 1-hour intravenous infusion followed by carboplatin AUC 6 mg/mL-min as a 30-minute intravenous infusion were repeated every 3 weeks on an outpatient basis. A median of 6 cycles were performed for each patient resulting in a total of 210 cycles.

Results of an intention-to-treat analysis showed a complete response in three and a partial response in 19 patients, or 8 and 53%, respectively. Overall response rate was 61%.

The response rate was 44% among 18 patients whose best response to front-line treatment had been progressive or stable disease.

Median duration of response was eight months and median time to tumour progression was 10 months. Probability of one-year survival was 66%.

Grade 3-4 neutropenia, the main haematologic toxicity, developed in 45% of the patients, febrile neutropenic episodes occurred in 19% and Grade 3 thrombocytopenia in 11%. Non-haematologic toxicity was generally mild. One sudden death occurred that was possibly related to the treatment.
Oncology 2003;64:3:207-212. "Salvage Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer with Docetaxel and Carboplatin"

E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

To print, use this version