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Published on: February 20, 2017
Two-weekly docetaxel in treatment of advanced breast cancer: A preliminary study
D W Lee1, I H Kang2, F Ismail2
1University of Malaya, Faculty of Medicine, Clinical Oncology Unit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. daiwee@ummc.edu.my.
Objective:
Three-weekly docetaxel causes a high rate of febrile neutropenia, especially in the Asian population. Two-weekly docetaxel has been shown to reduce rate of febrile neutropenia in castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients. We conducted a preliminary study to investigate the safety of two-weekly docetaxel in advanced breast cancer patients.
Methods:
We recruited 10 patients with advanced breast cancer with ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status score of zero to two, who needed chemotherapy in the first or second-line setting to receive two-weekly docetaxel for 8 cycles. The primary endpoint was safety and secondary endpoints were response rate and progression free survival.
Results:
The most reported adverse events were haematological (anaemia 100% and neutropenia 90%). The febrile neutropenia rate was 10%. The overall response rate was 20%. The median progression free survival was 5.0 months.
Conclusion:
Two-weekly docetaxel may be a reasonable alternative treatment regimen for patients with advanced breast cancer in the first or second-line setting. This regimen is yet to be compared with standard 3-weekly schedule in a phase 3 randomised clinical trial.
