Taxanes in Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Early Breast Cancer

Abstract

Adjuvant polychemotherapy improves diseasefree survival and overall survival in women with early breast cancer. A meta-analysis by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) reported that over 15 years there had been a reduction in recurrence and death in women younger than 50 years who had received adjuvant polychemotherapy [1]. A smaller but still highly significant reduction in the risk of recurrence and death was observed for women aged 50–69 years who received the same treatment. The effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on recurrence was noted mainly during the first 5 years after randomization. The magnitude of effect within this 5-year period was 2.5-times greater for women aged under 50 years compared with women aged 50–59 years. The EBCTCG meta-analysis also compared regimens that contain anthracyclines with no chemotherapy or with the oral combination of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) [1]. The most widely investigated regimens that contain anthracyclines were a combination of cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil with either doxorubicin or epirubicin. The EBCTCG study found that allocation to approximately 6 months of anthracycline-based polychemotherapy reduced the yearly death rate from breast cancer by approximately 38% for women younger than 50 years of age at diagnosis and by approximately 20% for women aged 50–69 years at diagnosis.