Two weekly vinorelbine: administration in patients who have received at least two prior chemotherapy regimes for advanced breast cancer

This study examined the response to and toxicity of two weekly vinorelbine administrations in patients with at least two prior chemotherapeutic treatm ents for advanced breast cancer. This single centre study enrolled 20 patie nts, 19 of whom had received prior taxane treatment for advanced breast can cer. Taxane treatment was in the form of docetaxel for all but 1 patient wh o had received paclitaxel. All patients had received two or more prior chem otherapeutic regimes for advanced breast carcinoma, including anthracycline s (epirubicin) in 19 patients. Vinorelbine 25 mg/m(2) two weekly was given for 6 months, until disease progression or toxicity precluded further treat ment. 5 earlier studied patients starred vinorelbine at 25 mg/m(2)/week; al l changed to the two weekly schedule, limiting the incidence and severity o f neutropenia. 7 partial responses (PRs) out of 20 assessable patients (35% overall response rate, 95% confidence interval 15-59%) were noted, all PRs occurring in taxane pretreated patients. The median duration of response w as 4 months whilst the median time to progression was 2.75 months. Overall, there were 7 neutropenic events (35%) of 2 week median duration. spanning common toxicity criteria (CTC) grades 1-3 in severity. 5 neutropenia cases (25%) occurred in patients whilst on two weekly vinorelbine. 2 cases (10%) required granulocyte colony stimulating factor support, 1 having had febril e neutropenia (52%). One case of thrombocytopenia, neurotoxicity and nausea teach CTC grade 1) were recorded. Although this study involves a small num ber of cases, these preliminary results suggest that two weekly vinorelbine is effective in heavily pretreated (including taxane pretreated) advanced breast carcinoma. Response is comparable with that of traditionally used we ekly regimes, with markedly less toxicity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.