Abstract
Chemotherapy is a major tool for metastatic breast cancer treatment. In this study, a series of 316 patients have been analyzed to evaluate the time needed to reach tumor response by means of combination chemotherapy. Twenty-five percent of patients responded within 3 months and virtually all responses occurred within 7.5 months. The time curves of response (any) and best response are superimposable. A subset analysis has shown that the following pretreatment characteristics predict a significantly longer time to response: prior exposure to adjuvant chemotherapy, nodal positivity at diagnosis, no previous endocrine treatment and osseous metastases.
Publication types
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Clinical Trial
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Comparative Study
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Randomized Controlled Trial
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Age Factors
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
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Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
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Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
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Cyclophosphamide / administration & dosage
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Cytarabine / administration & dosage
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Diethylstilbestrol / administration & dosage
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Epirubicin / administration & dosage
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Female
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Humans
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Lymphatic Metastasis
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Middle Aged
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Postmenopause
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Premenopause
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Receptors, Estrogen / analysis
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Receptors, Progesterone / analysis
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Retrospective Studies
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Survival Analysis
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Time Factors
Substances
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Receptors, Estrogen
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Receptors, Progesterone
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Cytarabine
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Epirubicin
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Diethylstilbestrol
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Cyclophosphamide