Publication

Randomised phase III trial of FEC120 vs EC-docetaxel in patients with high-risk node-positive primary breast cancer: final survival analysis of the ADEBAR study

Journal Paper/Review - Mar 31, 2016

Units
PubMed
Doi

Citation
Janni W, Friedl T, Zwingers T, Huober J, Scholz C, Annecke K, Wischnik A, Jueckstock J, Augustin D, Rack B, Harbeck N, Kiechle M. Randomised phase III trial of FEC120 vs EC-docetaxel in patients with high-risk node-positive primary breast cancer: final survival analysis of the ADEBAR study. Br J Cancer 2016; 114:863-71.
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
Br J Cancer 2016; 114
Publication Date
Mar 31, 2016
Issn Electronic
1532-1827
Pages
863-71
Brief description/objective

BACKGROUND
Taxane-containing adjuvant chemotherapy has been established as standard treatment in node-positive breast cancer. This study compared efficacy and tolerability of epirubicin (E)/cyclophosphamide (C) followed by docetaxel (Doc) with a dose-dense 5-fluorouracil (F)+E+ C regimen.

METHODS
The ADEBAR study was a randomised phase III trial for women with primary invasive breast cancer and ⩾4 metastatic axillary lymph nodes (n=1364). Treatment consisted of four 21-day cycles of E plus C, followed by four 21-day cycles of Doc (EC-Doc), or six 28-day cycles of E plus F plus C (FEC120).

RESULTS
Disease-free survival (DFS) was similar in the two treatment arms as shown by multivariate Cox regression adjusted for other prognostic factors (EC-Doc vs FEC120, hazard ratio (HR): 1.087; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.878-1.346, P=0.444). In addition, there was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the two groups (HR: 0.974; 95% CI: 0.750-1.264, P=0.841). Haematologic toxicity was more common in FEC120 recipients; non-haematologic toxicities occurred more frequently in the EC-Doc arm. The serious adverse event rate was significantly higher in the FEC120 group (29.7% vs 22.5%).

CONCLUSIONS
EC-Doc provides a feasible and effective alternative therapy option to FEC120 with a different safety profile in this high-risk breast cancer cohort.