Weekly gemcitabine and docetaxel in refractory soft tissue sarcoma: a retrospective analysis

The combination of gemcitabine and docetaxel (GD) is used to effectively treat patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS). It is widely considered that the conventional doses used are too high for long term use and many patients must discontinue GD treatment due to its toxicity. Therefore, to determine the appropriate dose meeting acceptable efficacy results, while minimizing toxic side effects, we treated patients with a weekly infusion of GD (weekly GD).

A total of 22 patients presenting a variety of STSs were treated at Yonsei Cancer Center. All patients had metastatic or recurrent cancer and had previously received doxorubicin and ifosfamide combination chemotherapy. In all cases, gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m(2)) and docetaxel (35 mg/m(2)) were administered intravenously on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of these patients.

The response rate was 4.5%, with one patient diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma having a partial response, and the disease control rate was 40.9%. The median progression-free survival (PFS) duration was 2.7 months and the PFS was correlated with the treatment response to a weekly GD. The median overall survival (OS) duration was 7.8 months and the OS was correlated with histology. There was no significant difference in OS between patients who received weekly GD as a 2nd line chemotherapy and those who received 3rd line or more. Treatment was generally well tolerated.

Weekly GD was well tolerated and showed moderate efficacy, indicating that this could be a reasonable option as a salvage treatment for metastatic STS.