• P M Ravdin.
• Division of Oncology, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, 78284-7884, USA.
• Semin. Oncol. 1999 Jun 1; 26 (3 Suppl 9): 20-3.

AbstractThe need for improved adjuvant chemotherapy programs for breast cancer patients is emphasized by the 1998 overview analysis of adjuvant trials, which demonstrates that although there has been substantial incremental advances in adjuvant therapy, relapse and death are prevented in less than half of women with micrometastatic disease. Because both docetaxel (Taxotere; Rhône-Pouleuc Rorer, Collegeville, PA) and paclitaxel have substantial non-cross-resistance with anthracyclines and therefore activity in anthracycline-resistant breast cancer, defining their roles in the adjuvant therapy of breast cancer is an area of great interest and active clinical investigation. The results of the adjuvant trials using docetaxel assume a particular importance because of the two taxanes in clinical use at this time, docetaxel may be the more active agent in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, as demonstrated in the results from phase II and III randomized trials. Ongoing or soon-to-open adjuvant trials are evaluating the impact of docetaxel added to conventional adjuvant anthracyclines regimens, substituted for anthracyclines, used in combination with anthracyclines, and in direct comparison to paclitaxel. The results of these ongoing adjuvant trials will define the role of docetaxel in adjuvant chemotherapy programs for the management of patients with breast cancer and are eagerly awaited.

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