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Updated: Dec 22, 2025
Long-term Live-cell Imaging to Assess Cell Fate in Response to Paclitaxel
Published on: May 14, 2018
Efficacy and Safety of Weekly Paclitaxel in Breast Cancer With Symptomatic Bone Marrow Infiltration
Angelique DA Silva1, Christelle Levy2, Djelila Allouache3
1Breast Cancer Unit, Centre François Baclesse, Institut Normand du Sein, Caen, France a.da-silva@baclesse.unicancer.fr.
Background/Aim:
Currently, there is no recommendation for the treatment of breast cancer (BC) with bone-marrow cell infiltration (BMI). We evaluated the efficacy and safety of weekly-paclitaxel in this population.
Patients And Methods:
This retrospective study included all BC patients with BMI receiving weekly-paclitaxel between January 2014 and May 2018. Overall-survival (OS) was the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints were progression-free-survival (PFS) and safety.
Results:
BMI was diagnosed in 26 patients. This infiltration was suggested by peripheral blood smear in 73% of cases. All patients had anemia, and 77% had thrombocytopenia. OS and PFS were 7.2 months [95% confidence interval (CI)=2.6-20.7] and 3.3 months (95%CI=1.6-7.2), respectively. Good performance-status, absence of thrombocytopenia and presence of less than 5% of circulating erythroblasts at BMI diagnosis, were associated with better survival. One patient presented grade 5 febrile neutropenia but no episodes of bleeding were reported.
Conclusion:
Weekly-paclitaxel is an effective therapeutic option with limited toxicity for BC with BMI.
