Oral vinorelbine and capecitabine as first-line therapy in metastatic breast cancer: a retrospective analysis

Lay abstract The adoption of metronomic chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer is an important step forward in the management of this disease. The fluoropyrimidine capecitabine and the vinca alkaloid vinorelbine have been shown to be at least as active. Our data confirm the activity and safety of this all-oral regimen as first-line metronomic therapy being response rate. A retrospective analysis of 70 patients with triple-negative or hormone-resistant advanced breast carcinoma who had not previously received chemotherapy was carried out. Patients received oral vinorelbine 60 mg/m(2) on day 1 and 8, plus capecitabine 1000 mg/m(2) bid for 14 consecutive days every 3 weeks. Overall response rate was 53% with a 9% complete response rate. Stable disease was recorded in 27% of the cases. Median progression-free survival was 7.9 months and median overall survival was 29.2 months. Toxicity was generally mild and easily manageable. These data demonstrate that this combination is feasible, safe and active as first-line treatment of triple-negative fully hormone-resistant advanced breast carcinoma patients.