Background. Adding taxanes to anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy has shown significant improvement in node-positive breast cancer patients but the optimal dose schedule has still remained undetermined.
Objectives. The feasibility of dose-dense epirubicin in combination with cyclophosphamide (EC) followed by weekly paclitaxel as adjuvant chemotherapy in node-positive breast cancer patients was investigated.
Methods. All patients were treated with epirubicin (100 mg/m2) and cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m2) every two weeks for four cycles with daily Pegfilgrastim (G-CSF) that was administered 3–10 days after each cycle of epirubicin and cyclophosphamide infusion which followed by (80 mg/m2) paclitaxel for twelve consecutive weeks.
Results. Sixty consecutive patients were analyzed, of whom 57 patients (95%) completed the regimen and no case of toxicity-related death was observed. Grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity was uncommon and the most common grade 3/4 nonhematological adverse event was neuropathy disorders. Conclusions. Dose-dense epirubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by weekly paclitaxel with G-CSF support is a well-tolerated and feasible regimen in node-positive breast cancer patients without serious complications.
LBA1000 The full, final text of this abstract will be available at abstract.asco.org at 12:01 AM (EDT) on Monday, June 4, 2012, and in the Annual Meeting Proceedings online supplement to the June 20, 2012, issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology. Onsite at the Meeting, this abstract will be printed in the Monday edition of ASCO Daily News.
Sequential administration of dose-dense epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel/capecitabine for patients with HER2-negative and locally advanced or node-positive breast cancer