Why the study?
Does combining weekly low-dose doxorubicin with cytotoxic or hormonal drugs improve survival or response compared to doxorubicin alone as second-line therapy in advanced breast cancer?
Does combining weekly low-dose doxorubicin with cytotoxic or hormonal drugs improve survival or response compared to doxorubicin alone as second-line therapy in advanced breast cancer?
Combining weekly low-dose doxorubicin with cytotoxic drugs as second-line therapy for advanced breast cancer significantly improves median survival compared to doxorubicin alone, albeit with increased nausea.
Should not yet change practice in advanced breast cancer; leaves open randomized confirmation of cytotoxic combinations.
This is a retrospective analysis of women whose advanced breast cancer was treated with weekly low-dose doxorubicin (12 mg/m2) as second line therapy. The patients received doxorubicin as single agent therapy (group D, n = 47) or combined with various cytotoxic (group D+CT, n = 52) or with hormonal drugs (group D+ET, n = 37). Objective responses were found in 23% in group D, in 33% in group D+CT and in 30% in group D+ET. Mean response duration was 11 months in group D+CT and group D+ET and 6 months in group D (p = 0.007, Student's t-test). Median survival was 17 months in group D+CT and 9 months both in group D and group D+ET (p = 0.01, Mantel-Cox). The toxicity was mild. However, nausea occurred more often in group D+CT than in group D (p = 0.009, chi-square-test).
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Elomaa et al. (1988) studied this question.
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