Publications by authors named "Maria Vartholomeou"
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess the occurrence of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) in breast cancer patients after they showed a significant response to taxane-based chemotherapy, comparing these results to a historical control group treated with non-taxane regimens.
- Among 155 patients treated with taxanes, 7 developed LMC as the first sign of cancer progression, occurring after a median of 6 months from treatment initiation.
- The findings indicated that a higher percentage of patients receiving taxane-based therapy (8.13%) experienced LMC compared to only 1.4% in the non-taxane group, highlighting a potential risk associated with taxane treatments.
Aim: To determine the incidence of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC), as the first manifestation of systemic progression, in breast cancer patients after obtaining a major response (complete response, CR or >80% partial response, PR) to first-line taxane-based chemotherapy treated between 1996 and 2000 in our Medical Oncology Unit.
Patients And Methods: Patients with histologically proven breast cancer having either metastatic disease, or high-risk locoregional disease that were entered into treatment protocols with first-line taxane (paclitaxel or docetaxel) plus anthracyclines or mitoxantrone combinations and developed LMC as the first evidence of progression after major response (CR or >80% PR) were analyzed in the present study (n = 155).
Results: Seven patients with a median age of 54 (range: 40-70) years developed LMC as their first evidence of progression after taxane-based regimens with a median interval of 6 months (range: 2-18) from start of treatment to diagnosis of LMC.