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Published on: August 25, 2017
Vinorelbine therapy in classic Kaposi's sarcoma: a retrospective study of 20 patients
Lucia Brambilla1, Sebastiano Recalcati1, Athanasia Tourlaki1
1U.O. Dermatologia, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, via Pace 9, 20122 Milano, Italy.
Background:
Systemic chemotherapy is the main treatment of diffuse and/or aggressive classic Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) but there are no standard treatment guidelines and published literature regarding vinorelbine is lacking.
Objectives:
To assess the safety and effectiveness of intravenous vinorelbine in the treatment of classic KS.
Materials & Methods:
We performed a retrospective study of a departmental database in histologically proven classic KS.
Results:
Twenty patients received intravenous vinorelbine as cycles of 20 mg/m(2) once every two weeks for 5 cycles and subsequently at a dose of 30 mg/m(2) once every three weeks. Of 19 assessable patients, three (16%) had a complete remission and 11 (58%) had a partial response, for an overall response rate of 74%. The remaining 5 patients had a stable disease (26%). Grade 3 or 4 toxicities were neutropenia (3/20 patients), deep vein thrombosis (1/20 patients) and constipation (1/20 patients). The median progression-free survival from the start of therapy until the development of progressive disease was 35.1 months.
Conclusion:
Vinorelbine is an effective and overall well tolerated treatment for classic KS.
