weekly vs every 3 week therapy TCH for metastatic BC
 

Don't just read the last line!

Even though numbers were small, overall survival was almost one year longer, response rate higher and side effects were fewer! Perhaps one gets the added "metronomic effect" of chemotherapy ie, smaller amounts given more often affect not only quickly dividing tumor cells but also the "ACHILLES HEEL"/WEAKEST LINK, the endothelial cells of the newly formed blood vessels feeding the tumor/mets.

ABSTRACT: Two Concurrent Phase II Trials of Paclitaxel/Carboplatin/Trastuzumab (Weekly or Every-3-Week Schedule) as First-Line Therapy in Women with HER2-Overexpressing Metastatic Breast Cancer: NCCTG Study 983252 [Clinical Breast Cancer]

Purpose: The efficacy and tolerability of 2 different schedules of paclitaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab for HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer (MBC) were evaluated in this parallel multicenter phase II trial.

Patients and Methods: Patients received every-3-week therapy (n = 43) consisting of a 200 mg/m2 dose of paclitaxel/carboplatin area under the curve (AUC) of 6 mg/mL per minute and trastuzumab (an initial 8 mg/kg dose and subsequent 6 mg/kg doses) administered every 21 days for 8 cycles or weekly therapy (n = 48) consisting of an 80-mg/m2 dose of paclitaxel/carboplatin AUC of 2 mg/mL per minute for 3 of 4 weeks, with weekly trastuzumab (an initial 4-mg/kg dose and subsequent 2-mg/kg doses) administered every 4 weeks for 6 cycles. Trastuzumab was continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. HER2 status was confirmed by a central laboratory review.

Results: The overall response rate (ORR) with every-3-week therapy was 65% (90% confidence interval [CI], 51%-77%), with a median time to disease progression of 9.9 months and median overall survival (OS) time of 2.3 years. The ORR with weekly therapy was 81% (90% CI, 70%-90%), with a median time to disease progression of 13.8 months and a median OS time of 3.2 years. Hematologic and nonhematologic toxicities occurred significantly less frequently with weekly therapy versus every-3-week therapy: grade 3/4 neutropenia (52% vs. 88%); grade 3 thrombocytopenia (4% vs. 30%); and grade 3 neurosensory toxicity (2% vs. 19%), respectively.

Conclusions: Every-3-week and weekly regimens of paclitaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab are highly active in women with HER2-overexpressing MBC. However, fewer patients developed severe neutropenia, leukopenia, or thrombocytopenia with the weekly schedule.

Lani,

This is amazing information!! I was aware of the study but hadn't read it that closely.
Thank you,
Al

There are additional studies
 

to support the idea of treating every week whether adjuvent or stage IV disease.
My clinical trial with Taxol, Navelbine and Herceptin was for weekly doses and the reason was the same as stated for this trial. It was hoped that this dosing would have better effect on hard-to-treat mets, and it sure did for mine. When you are bombarding the cancer cells with more than one way of killing them, it is best to get a little more of the drug by weekly dosing than less frequent dosing.

For instance when I had my Adriamycin weekly, I was getting more total drug per month than if I took it every two weeks.

And do not forget the drugs that are taken daily in pill form.