The Impact of Adding Taxanes to Anthracyclines on Women with Breast Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Introduction This study aimed to analyze the impact of adding taxanes to anthracycline-based regimens on women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods This retrospective study included 559 female breast cancer patients who underwent adjuvant chemotherapy at the University Hospital Center "Mother Teresa" in Tirana, Albania from 2005 to 2011. Three hundred fifty-nine patients received an anthracycline-based regimen, and 200 received anthracycline-plus-taxane regimens. Common anthracycline-based regimens consisted of 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m(2), doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2), cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2) every three weeks for six cycles. Combined taxane-anthracycline regimens were anthracycline-based regimen in the first four cycles (doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2), cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2), docetaxel 80 mg/m(2)) followed by either weekly paclitaxel or thrice-weekly docetaxel for four cycles. Results Overall, after a 5-year follow-up, it was found that 148 women in the taxanes-based regimen group (74%) did not experience relapse compared with 264 women in the anthracycline-based regimen group (73.5%). The relapse status was affected by hormonal status (p: <0.001) in the taxane-based regimen. In the anthracycline-based regimen patients, the relapse status was affected by hormone status and nodal involvement (p: <0.001). Conclusion The taxanes-plus-anthracycline regimen was slightly more effective than the anthracycline-based regimen for breast cancer patients in terms of avoiding relapse, but the difference was not statistically significant. Therefore, adding taxanes to adjuvant chemotherapy for women diagnosed with breast cancer is not beneficial for every subgroup. Hence, the future of breast cancer therapy remains chemotherapy individualized for each patient for optimal outcomes.