Timing of paclitaxel treatment in pre‐operative or post‐operative does not affect survival in breast cancer patients. Issue 3 (12th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Jiayu; Chen, Shanshan; Xu, Binghe; Yuan, Peng; Ma, Fei; Li, Qing; Zhang, Pin; Cai, Ruigang; Fan, Ying; Luo, Yang; Li, Qiao
• Is Part Of: Thoracic cancer. Volume 8:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 246
• Page End: 250
• Publication Date: 2017-04-12
• Subjects: Adjuvant therapy -- breast cancer -- epirubicin -- neoadjuvant therapy -- paclitaxel; Chest -- Cancer -- Periodicals; Chest -- Cancer -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Chest -- Surgery -- Periodicals; 616.99494005
• DOI: 10.1111/1759-7714.12433
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1759-7706

Abstract

Abstract : Background: Two epirubicin and paclitaxel‐based neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens were compared in breast cancer patients. Methods: We enrolled 309 breast cancer patients who received two types of regimens: cyclophosphamide + epirubicin dose‐dense neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by sequential postoperative paclitaxel single‐drug medication, and paclitaxel + epirubicin standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by two cycles of the same chemotherapy after surgery. The primary endpoint was a pathological complete response (pCR) and the secondary endpoints were disease‐free and overall survival. Results: The median follow‐up time was 65 months. The overall pCRs for pathological efficacy and efficacy of primary lesions were 14.4% and 29.3%, respectively ( P < 0.001). The pCR of the paclitaxel + epirubicin group was significantly higher than in the cyclophosphamide + epirubicin group (17.3% vs. 9.2%; P = 0.0345), but the five‐year disease‐free survival rates in both groups were not significantly different (82.9% vs. 75.3%; P = 0.916). Conclusions: The results of our study indicated that the timing of paclitaxel therapy, either preoperative or postoperative, does not affect survival times in breast cancer patients.