Doxorubicin plus docetaxel as effective as standard therapy for early breast cancer

The results of a new study show that for women with surgically resected early-stage breast cancer, adjuvant treatment with docetaxel (Taxotere) and doxorubicin (Adriamycin) appears to be just as effective as doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), the standard adjuvant treatment for these women.

This was an "unexpected" result and suggests that doxorubicin with docetaxel "should not automatically" be used as adjuvant therapy for women with early-stage breast cancer, Dr. Lori J. Goldstein from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia said in a statement from the 41st annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology where she presented the data.In the phase III study, 2889 women with one to three node-positive or node-negative early stage breast cancers were randomized to four cycles of doxorubicin/docetaxel or doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (the control arm).At 4 years, the median disease-free survival for both groups was 87%, which is "outstanding," Dr. Goldstein reported. "The same pattern is seen for overall survival, with the overall survival of 94% for both groups." "The question," Dr. Goldstein emphasized, "is whether longer follow-up will change these results, because both groups did unexpectedly well." She also noted that early "hypothesis-generating" data from subgroup analyses looking at lymph node status, menopausal status, and hormone receptor status "suggest perhaps the biology of the tumor as opposed to the hormone status or menopausal status may predict outcome as well as potential benefits of each specific therapy."Doxorubicin/docetaxel was associated with more severe side effects than doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide, however, with 19% of women experiencing febrile neutropenia compared with 6% in the doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide arm. There were also four treatment-related deaths in the doxorubicin/docetaxel arm and none in the doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide arm.(Source: American Society of Clinical Oncology: Reuters Health: Oncolink: May 2005.)