Weekly Docetaxel Less Effective, More Toxic than CMF in Early Breast Cancer

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the journal Annals of Oncology, researchers have found that weekly docetaxel is not more effective than standard cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF) as adjuvant treatment of older women with breast cancer and worsens toxicity and quality of life.

Because evidence on adjuvant chemotherapy in older women is lacking, researchers sought to determine whether weekly docetaxel is more effective than standard CMF.

For the phase 3 study, researchers enrolled 302 women aged 65-79 and randomly assigned them to receive either docetaxel 35mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks or cyclophosphamide 600mg/m2, methotrexate 40mg/m2, and fluorouracil 600mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 every 4 weeks. Both treatments were given for four to six cycles according to hormone receptor status.

Results showed after a 70-month median follow-up, the unadjusted hazard ratio of disease-free survival for weekly docetaxel compared with CMF was 1.21 (95% CI: 0.83 - 1.76; P = 0.32). In addition, the hazard ratio of death was 1.34 (95% CI: 0.80 - 2.22; P = 0.26).

Toxicity and quality of life were worse with docetaxel than standard chemotherapy. The findings suggest that weekly docetaxel should not be used in place of standard CMF as adjuvant treatment of older women with breast cancer.