Background: The efficacy of platinum- and ifosfamide-based chemotherapy regimens as salvage treatment in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has not yet been sufficiently evaluated.
Patients and methods: Patients with MBC treated with cisplatin plus ifosfamide with (PEI) and without (PI) etoposide in our clinic between 04/2005 and 04/2014 were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: A total of 20 patients (median four prior chemotherapies) treated with PEI/PI were identified, out of whom 18 were evaluable for objective response. Treatment with PEI/PI resulted in one complete remission, nine partial remissions and two cases of stable disease. The median (range) progression-free survival was 4 (0-18) months and median overall survival from therapy initiation was 8.5 (0-50) months. PEI/PI therapy caused grade 3/4 toxicities (mainly hematological) in 80% of patients.
Conclusion: PEI/PI is an adequate salvage treatment for patients with MBC but cannot be generally recommended due to toxicity. However, comparison with platinum monotherapy trials suggests that PEI/PI might be a more effective treatment for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.
Keywords: Metastatic breast cancer; chemotherapy; etoposide; ifosfamide; platinum.
Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.