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Feasibility and toxicity of docetaxel before or after fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide as adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer

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Abstract

Background

The tolerance and safety associated with the administration order of the anthracycline and taxane drugs have not been evaluated.

Patients and methods

Breast cancer patients with node-positive or high-risk patients with node-negative were eligible. The feasibility and toxicity were evaluated in the following regimens—arm A, 3 courses of fluorouracil 500 mg/m2, epirubicin 100 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 (FEC) followed by 3 courses of docetaxel 100 mg/m2 (DOC); arm B, 3 courses of DOC followed by 3 courses of FEC.

Results

Forty-two patients were registered. The relative dose intensity was 94.2 % for FEC and 97.8 % for DOC in arm A, and 98.9 % for DOC and 95.2 % for FEC in arm B. In arm A, grade 3 or higher hematological toxicity was observed in nine patients, and febrile neutropenia developed in three patients with FEC. In arm B, grade 3 or higher hematological toxicity was observed in seven patients, but febrile neutropenia was not noted in any patient.

Conclusion

The regimens in both arms A and B were safe regarding adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer. However, DOC followed by FEC might be more tolerable. Further studies will maximize the results obtained with DOC followed by FEC.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Breast and General Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan

    Hajime Abe, Tsuyoshi Mori, Yuki Kawai, Hirotomi Cho, Yoshihiro Kubota & Tomoko Umeda

  2. Department of Comprehensive Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan

    Yoshimasa Kurumi

  3. Department of Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan

    Tohru Tani

Authors
  1. Hajime Abe
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  2. Tsuyoshi Mori
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  3. Yuki Kawai
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  4. Hirotomi Cho
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  5. Yoshihiro Kubota
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  6. Tomoko Umeda
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  7. Yoshimasa Kurumi
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  8. Tohru Tani
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Correspondence to Hajime Abe.

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Abe, H., Mori, T., Kawai, Y. et al. Feasibility and toxicity of docetaxel before or after fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide as adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer. Int J Clin Oncol 18, 487–491 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0407-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0407-7

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