Background: The observed activity of cisplatin in breast cancer and it
s unattractive toxicity profile in palliative treatment warranted furt
her study of platinum analogues in this disease. Patients and methods:
Sixty-two patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer, 61 of
whom had been previously treated with chemotherapy, were randomly assi
gned to therapy with either iproplatin (n = 32) or carboplatin (n = 30
). Both platinum analogues were administered intravenously, iproplatin
at a dose of 240 mg/m2 every 4 weeks and carboplatin at a dose of 450
mg/m2 every 5 weeks. Results: Only two patients responded to iproplat
in (7%) for durations of 21 and 61 weeks, and one patient responded to
carboplatin (3%) for a duration of 64 weeks. All responses were compl
ete. At the given dose schedules carboplatin was more myelosuppressive
than iproplatin. Non-hematologic toxicities included nausea and vomit
ing (93% vs. 90%), diarrhea (20% vs. 10%) and hemorrhage (16% vs. 10%)
for iproplatin and carboplatin, respectively. Two patients developed
alopecia with carboplatin. No renal toxicity was observed. Conclusions
: Both iproplatin and carboplatin have limited activity in previously
treated women with advanced breast cancer when given in conventional d
osages.