Cardiac safety of adjuvant non-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin combined with cyclophosphamide and followed by paclitaxel in older breast cancer patients.

Purpose: To investigate the cardiac safety of adjuvant Non-Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin (NPL-DOX) combined to Cyclophosphamide (CTX) and followed by weekly Paclitaxel, in older patients (≥65 years) with diagnosis of high risk breast cancer. The main end point of this prospective study was the detection of early episodes of symptomatic congestive heart failure (CHF).

Methods: The cardiac function was evaluated by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) measurements with repeated echocardiograms, performed 2 weeks before the beginning of chemotherapy and every 6 months, until 30 months after the study entry; then yearly for at least 5 years.

Results: Forty-seven patients were enrolled from two Italian Divisions of Medical Oncology. Final results revealed no early episodes of symptomatic CHF within the first 12 months from the enrolment. Only two cardiac events were observed: an episode of atrial flutter after the first cycle of NPL-DOX and CTX, with a quick return to normal rhythm, and a grade 3 (scored to NCI-CTCAE, version 3.0) CHF episode, 18 months later chemotherapy start. No other relevant toxicities were reported.

Conclusions: This adjuvant combination including NPL-DOX in elderly patients, resulted in a low rate of cardiac toxic effects. Comparative trials should be encouraged to confirm these findings.