Why the study?
Does weekly epirubicin induce remission in advanced breast cancer patients unable to tolerate conventional chemotherapy?
Does weekly epirubicin induce remission in advanced breast cancer patients unable to tolerate conventional chemotherapy?
Weekly epirubicin is active and well tolerated in advanced breast cancer patients who are elderly or have poor performance status and cannot tolerate conventional chemotherapy.
May support use in select advanced breast cancer patients intolerant to conventional chemotherapy; leaves open confirmation in randomized trials.
Twenty-nine advanced breast cancer patients, considered unable to tolerate conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, were treated with a weekly schedule of epirubicin (15 mg/m2 i.v.). All patients were fully evaluable. A remission of 34.5% was observed (2 CR; 8 PR), with a median duration of response of 9 months (range, 3-24 months). Side effects were mild, and on the whole the toxicity was negligible. This regimen showed a favorable therapeutic ratio in our series and seems active and well tolerated even in elderly and/or poor performance status patients.
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Tucci et al. (1988) studied this question.
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