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Once‐per‐cycle pegfilgrastim in breast cancer patients treated with docetaxel/epidoxorubicin/cyclophosphamide
Author(s) -
MONTELLA L.,
ADDEO R.,
GUARRASI R.,
CENNAMO G.,
FAIOLA V.,
CAPASSO E.,
CARAGLIA M.,
PRETE S. DEL
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2354.2008.01004.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pegfilgrastim , docetaxel , neutropenia , cyclophosphamide , breast cancer , febrile neutropenia , oncology , chemotherapy , cancer , surgery
MONTELLA L., ADDEO R., GUARRASI R., CENNAMO G., FAIOLA V., CAPASSO E., CARAGLIA M. & DEL PRETE S. (2010) European Journal of Cancer Care 19 , 200–204
Once‐per‐cycle pegfilgrastim in breast cancer patients treated with docetaxel/epidoxorubicin/cyclophosphamide The incidence of neutropenia following combination chemotherapy is significant in breast cancer and impairs patients’ quality of life. Colony‐stimulating factors significantly decrease the risk of febrile neutropenia (FN). Aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety profile of once‐per‐cycle pegfilgrastim in reducing FN in breast cancer patients treated with docetaxel (75 mg/m 2 ), epidoxorubicin (75 mg/m 2 ), cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m 2 ) administered every 3 weeks. Thirty‐five breast cancer patients were enrolled. Chemotherapy was administered in adjuvant, neoadjuvant and metastatic setting respectively in 26, 4 and 5 patients. Toxicity was monitored with programmed clinical evaluation and blood sampling. All patients completed the therapeutic programme consisting of six cycles for overall 210 cycles. The FN appeared in 6 out of 35 patients (17%), requiring dose reduction in 3 patients. Hypertransaminasemia was registered in two patients. In one patient pegfilgrastim administration was stopped because of skin hypersensititivity reaction. In conclusion, pegfilgrastim was able to maintain doses and timing of docetaxel/epidoxorubicin/cyclophosphamide in almost all breast cancer patients treated in this series. The reduced need for daily administration of colony‐stimulating factors, blood sampling, antibiotic therapy and hospitalization has a significant impact in terms of both quality of life and pharmaco‐economic evaluations.