Background & objective: Recently, high-dose docetaxel has been proved to be an effective antineoplastic drug in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.However,there was a few reports about moderate-dose docetaxel and Adriamycin in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. This study was designed to observe the response rate and toxic reaction of Taxotere and Taxotere plus Adriamycin in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
Methods: From September 1996 to April 2000, 34 cases with metastatic breast cancer, which were treated in Department of Oncology, The Second Central Hospital in Tianjin, were included in the study. For group A (14 cases), Taxotere single agent was administered at a dose of 75 mg/m(2) iv 1 hour. For group B, Taxotere was administered at a dose of 60 mg/m(2) combined with Adriamycin 50 mg/m(2) i.v. 1 hour. The same schedule for both groups was repeated every 21 days, with three cycles for all patients.
Results: The recent response rates of group A and group B were 57.14% (8/14) and 75.0% (15/20), respectively. The 2-and 4-year survival rates were 35.7%, 14.3% for group A, and 40.0%, 15.0% for group B. The median overall survival durations of group A and group B were 22 months and 23 months. The median overall response durations of these two groups were 10 and 11 months, respectively. The main adverse reactions of these two groups were neutropenia, nausea, vomiting, stomatitis, diarrhea, alopecia, fatigue, myalgia, fluid retention, and skin flushing. Grade 3 and grade 4 neutropenia occurred in group A and group B were 57.1% (8/14) and 70.0% (14/20), respectively.
Conclusion: Taxotere is effective in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The toxic reactions are tolerable.