study comparing two different combination chemotherapy protocol in metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with anthracycline chemotherapy regimen

ABSTRACT

Treatment for systemic disease is palliative in intent. Goals of treatment include improving quality of life and prolongation of life. Although median survival has been reported to be 18 to 24 months, some patients experience long-term survival. Several combination chemotherapy has been used with comparable results. Quality of life and cost of treatment are an important factor to determine the best combined chemotherapy. In this study. To compare a Taxane based regimen versus If osphamide fluorouracil and mitomycin combined regimen [FILM]. This study was designed to recruit a total of 52 patients with metastatic breast cancer who has received anthracycline chemotherapy in their initial treatment and were randomized between 4 cycles of FILM chemotherapy [Group A] or Taxane based chemotherapy [Group B] to be given every 3 weeks. Patients were assessed for response and toxicity, statistical analysis was used to estimate survival and disease control. Between January 2006 and January 2007, a 52 female patients with metastatic breast cancer have been randomized to either Taxane based or FILM [26 patients in each arm]. Patients were evenly distributed as regards age, staging at first diagnosis, chemotherapy that was previously used, hormonal receptors status and Her-2, and sites of metastases. All patients received the planned treatment. As regards response rate, overall response rate was 73% for group A and 92% for group B P= .047. Progression free survival was better in taxan based regimen 7.3 +/- 3.4 than FILM based 5.6 +/- 2.8 the difference was statistical significant with P= .02. On the other hand, cost of treatment was extremely higher for group B than group A. The cost of treatment was significantly higher in taxan group than FILM P 0.00002. There was no significant difference in quality of life in both groups. Taxan based chemotherapy is significantly better than FILM in terms of PFS. However, there was no significant difference as regards quality of life or overall survival. On the other hand, cost of treatment is significantly higher in Taxane based chemotherapy