[Granulocyte- colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) use in clinical practice in patients receiving chemotherapy for...

To describe the French routine use of G-CSF in patients treated for breast cancer as per the EORTC recommendations.

A prospective multicenter observational study conducted between February 2008 and September 2009 in 869 breast cancer patients treated by chemotherapy (CT) and for whom G-CSF treatment will be delivered in primary (PP) or secondary prophylaxis.

The mean age was 55 years. A total of 80.3% of CT was in neoadjuvant/adjuvant setting (NAS). PP was delivered in 78.9% of the NAS patients and 67.5% in metastatic situation. Of the 702 evaluable patients, incidences of severe (SN) and febrile neutropenias (FN) in patients who received PP were 9.3% and 4.2%, respectively. In patients who did not received G-CSF at first cycle, SN and FN were 12.4% and 7.3%, respectively. The use of PP was mainly driven by the type of CT for patients treated in the NAS and by patient or disease related risk factors in the locally advanced/metastatic setting.

This study has shown that the use of G-CSF was in accordance with the 2010 updates of the EORTC recommendations. However, G-CSF appears more widely used in the routine practice.