Cardiovascular autonomic function in anthracycline-treated breast cancer patients.

Preclinical studies suggest that in addition to the well-known direct damage to the myocardium, anthracycline antineoplastic drugs exert toxic effects on the cardiovascular autonomic system as well. To investigate whether this phenomenon occurs in the clinic, we carried out noninvasive, widely used tests of cardiovascular autonomic physiology in 55 women with stage II or III breast cancer. In all, 31 were being treated with anthracycline-containing chemotherapy regimens, and 24 who were receiving CMF (cyclophosphamide, Methotrexate, and fluorouracil) served as controls. Of 279 tests conducted in anthracycline (A)-treated patients, 123 were abnormal, vs 54 of 216 tests carried out in 24 controls (44% vs 25%; P less than 0.005). Abnormal variations in heart rate on standing and in diastolic blood pressure during handgrip was found in 25 (81%) and 17 patients receiving A, vs 9 (37%; P less than 0.005) and 5 (21%; P less than 0.0001), respectively, in controls. The incidence of abnormal tests was significantly higher in A-treated patients greater than 60 years of age (41%) vs 67%; P less than 0.05). Radionuclide ventriculography was carried out in 19 patients who showed abnormal tests of cardiovascular autonomic function after greater than or equal to 6 courses of a-containing chemotherapy; only 1 of them had abnormal cardiac contractility (global hypokinesia), suggesting that abnormal tests of cardiovascular autonomic function may occur in the absence of a detectable deterioration in left ventricular ejection fraction. A large number of factors may alter cardiovascular autonomic function in cancer patients, including age, radiation therapy to the chest, and multidrug treatment. Even after correcting for the most obvious of these, chemotherapy with anthracyclines is associated with a significantly higher percentage of abnormal tests for cardiovascular autonomic function. Although indirect and semi-quantitative, our results are compatible with the idea of A-induced cardiac autonomic dysfunction.

Less efficacy with alternating regimen as adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II node-positive breast cancer: results at 8 years (Pronacam 85).

A randomized trial to compare adjuvant treatment with an alternating regimen with conventional chemotherapy was performed. A total of 589 node-positive patients were included and stratified according to number of positive nodes (N1-3 and N > 4) and menopausal status. Premenopausal N1-3 patients were randomized to cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF) or CMF/4'-epirubicin, cyclophosphamide (EC), post-menopausal N1-3 patients to fluorouracil, 4 epirubicin, cyclophosphamide (FEC) or CMF/EC and pre- and post-menopausal patients with N > or = 4 to fluorouracil, 4' epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, prednisone (FECMP) or CMF/EC. In premenopausal patients, CMF was superior to CMF/EC in terms of disease-free survival (DFS) (65% vs 45%, P = 0.0149) and survival (72.3% vs 50.2%, P = 0.0220) whereas, for N > or = 4 patients, differences between FECMP and CMF/EC did not achieve statistical significance (DFS 35% vs 26.2%; survival 50% vs 38.1%, P = NS). For post-menopausal patients, FEC was superior to CMF/EC in DFS (58.6% vs 36.8%, P = 0.0215) and survival (66.2% vs 46%, P = 0.0155). In post-menopausal patients with N > 4, differences favouring CMF/EC were significant in DFS (40.4% vs 22%, P = 0.0371) but not in survival (47.4% vs 32.2%, P = 0.1185). Alternating regimens did not offer better results in premenopausal and post-menopausal N1-3 patients. Results regarding post-menopausal N > 4 women require further confirmation.

Capecitabine (CCB) en cáncer de mama metastásico: experiencia institucional / Capecitabine (CCB) in metastatic breast cancer: institutional experience

Introducción: CCB es una nueva fluoropirimidina que suma a las ventajas de la vía oral, su aceptable toxicidad y actividad, con bajo perfil costo-beneficio para el tratamiento paliativo del cáncer de mama. Objetivos: analizar nuestra experiencia en forma retrospectiva en relación a la utilización de CCB, en pacientes con cáncer de mama metastásico. Determinar su eficacia y perfil de toxicidad administrado por vía oral en régimen intermitente. Materiales y métodos: se evaluaron las historias clínicas de 67 pacientes (pts.), con diagnóstico de cáncer de mama metastásico que recibieron tratamiento con CCB, entre julio de 1999 y marzo de 2002, en el Instituto Alexander Fleming. Características de la población: edad mediana: 58 años (rango 32-79); receptores hormonales (RH) positivos 64,17 por ciento; el intervalo libre de enfermedad desde el diagnóstico a la primera manifestación metastásica, (ILE) fue de 115,5 meses (rango 0-231); presentaron patrón metastásico visceral (hepático y pulmonar) 41/67 pts., (61,19 por ciento). La mediana de líneas de tratamiento hormonal previo fue de 2 (rango 0-4) y de quimioterapia 4 (rango 0-7). El 17,91 por ciento de las pts. fueron resistentes a antraciclinas y el 79,10 por ciento, fueron expuestas a taxanos. En 6 pts. se efectuó tratamiento con altas dosis de quimioterapia. Las pacientes fueron tratadas con dosis de 1,5 a 2,5 gramos...