Efficacy of lower dose capecitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer and factors influencing therapeutic response and outcome.

Objective: Capecitabine exerts considerable therapeutic efficacy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes.

Materials And Methods: In this study, the efficacy and safety of lower dose capecitabine (2000 mg/m(2)/d) in patients with anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated MBC were studied with a special emphasis on the potential predictors of time to tumor progression (TTP) and response to the capecitabine treatment.

Results: The overall response rate (ORR) was 17%.