Carboplatin and Weekly Paclitaxel in Metastatic and Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Patients. A Pilot Study

Background: Platinum complexes are active in a wide range of solid tumors. Although both cisplatin and carboplatin have shown activity in breast cancer. However, some recent reports have demonstrated encouraging results, especially carboplatin in combination with taxanes. Aims: To evaluate efficacy and safety of the combination of Craboplatin (C) and weekly paclitaxel (P) as first line therapy in metastatic (MBC) and locally advanced breast cancer (LBC) patients. Patients and Methods: Twenty two patients with MBC and LBC were included. 16 patients with MBC were treated by Anthracyclines during the adjuvant phase, 3 patients had MBC as first presentation and 3 patients has LBC`. All the Patients were treated with carboplatine 320mg/m 2 day one and paclitaxel 80mg/m 2 day 1 and 8, both repeated every 3 weeks until progression/refusal or for a maximum of 8 cycles. A dose reduction was made in case of grade 3 and 4 toxicities. Results: From October 2005 to December 2007, 22 patients with LBC and MBC were included at Erfan Hospital Saudi Arabia. Median age was 49. Of 21 patients were assessed for response, two patients (9%) achieved complete remission (CR) and 12 patients (54.5%) had partial response (PR) giving an overall response rate of 63.5%. Time to disease progression (TTP) was 7.4 months. The median survival time was 18.7 (4-3 8) months. The actuarial overall survival for the first and second years were 56% and 21% respectively (Kaplan and Meier method). The most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities were neutropenia (9%), thrombocytopenia (4.5%), anemia (9%), neuropathy (9%), fatigue (9%), mucosities (9%) and myalgia (4.5%). Conclusion: Carboplatin and Weekly paclitaxel is very effective and safe combination as first line therapy in patients with LBC and MBC.