Persons who have breast cancer that recurs (comes back) after initial treatment or has spread to other parts of the body need additional therapy to relieve the symptoms of disease and prolong survival time. Researchers from Italy recently reported that the chemotherapy combination of vinorelbine and paclitaxel may be 1 of the most effective options for women who have metastatic breast cancer that recurs after previous chemotherapy.
metastatic breast cancer, the cancer has spread from the breast to other parts of the body. When women have metastatic disease that recurs after initial chemotherapy, additional treatments are needed to relieve symptoms, enhance quality of life, and prolong survival time. Chemotherapy drugs that have shown anticancer activity in women with this type of disease are vinorelbine and the taxanes, paclitaxel and docetaxel. Recently, Italian researchers studied a combination of vinorelbine and paclitaxel in women with recurrent metastatic breast cancer.
2 vinorelbine), and this dosage was used in a subsequent (phase II) study. In these 27 women, the complete response rate was 11% and the partial response rate was 52%. The average time it took for the disease to begin progressing again was 26 weeks, and the average survival time was 51 weeks. The most serious side effect of the treatment was low blood counts.