Overall survival and associated factors in women with metastatic breast cancer treated with trastuzumab at a public referral institution.

Objective: To characterize associated factors and overall survival of women with metastatic breast cancer treated with trastuzumab after its incorporation into the SUS, and additionally to present the direct costs of this technology.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort, based on data from computerized medical records from one of the units of the National Cancer Institute (INCA), in Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil. Women with HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer undergoing trastuzumab treatment from September 2017 to August 2018 were included.

Randomized phase III trial of ixabepilone plus capecitabine versus capecitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer previously treated with an anthracycline and a taxane.

Purpose: We sought to determine whether the combination of ixabepilone plus capecitabine improved overall survival (OS) compared with capecitabine alone in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes.

Patients And Methods: A total of 1,221 patients with MBC previously treated with anthracycline and taxanes were randomly assigned to ixabepilone (40 mg/m(2) intravenously on day 1) plus capecitabine (2,000 mg/m(2) orally on days 1 through 14) or capecitabine alone (2,500 mg/m(2) on the same schedule) given every 21 days. The trial was powered to detect a 20% reduction in the hazard ratio (HR) for death.