Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Carboplatin shows better response for TNBC patients, but what about toxicity?

There has been a good amount of evidence that cisplatin and carboplatin are effective for TNBC patients, especially those with BRCA mutations.  A recent German study used a pretty potent cocktail to specifically test the the effect of carboplatin on pathologically complete response, which is tied to a better prognosis for TNBC patients.   And it did work a bit better: 

Those treated with carboplatin had a somewhat higher pathologically complete response—43.1 percent of those with carboplatin versus 36.9 percent of those without.

For my money, that is not much of an advantage when you look at this heady chemical mix: carboplatin added to paclitaxel plus Adriamycin, plus Avastin—in weekly doses. 

Note that:

•  Avastin is no longer approved for  breast cancer in the U.S., so this treatment is not an option here

• 40 percent of the patients on this protocol  had at least one serious adverse effect.   
Diarrhea was the most common.

• The typical chemo treatment for TNBC in the U.S. is in two-week intervals.  Weekly chemo seems especially harsh, giving the body little time to recuperate. 

Read the full story on ASCO Post.

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