Cancer Res Treat.  2012 Mar;44(1):43-49.

Weekly Gemcitabine and Docetaxel in Refractory Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Retrospective Analysis

• Lee HY
• Shin SJ
• Kim HS
• Hong SJ
• Han JW
• Lim ST
• Roh JK
• Rha SY

Abstract

PURPOSE
The combination of gemcitabine and docetaxel (GD) is used to effectively treat patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS). It is widely considered that the conventional doses used are too high for long term use and many patients must discontinue GD treatment due to its toxicity. Therefore, to determine the appropriate dose meeting acceptable efficacy results, while minimizing toxic side effects, we treated patients with a weekly infusion of GD (weekly GD).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 22 patients presenting a variety of STSs were treated at Yonsei Cancer Center. All patients had metastatic or recurrent cancer and had previously received doxorubicin and ifosfamide combination chemotherapy. In all cases, gemcitabine (1,000 mg/m2) and docetaxel (35 mg/m2) were administered intravenously on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of these patients.
RESULTS
The response rate was 4.5%, with one patient diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma having a partial response, and the disease control rate was 40.9%. The median progression-free survival (PFS) duration was 2.7 months and the PFS was correlated with the treatment response to a weekly GD. The median overall survival (OS) duration was 7.8 months and the OS was correlated with histology. There was no significant difference in OS between patients who received weekly GD as a 2nd line chemotherapy and those who received 3rd line or more. Treatment was generally well tolerated.
CONCLUSION
Weekly GD was well tolerated and showed moderate efficacy, indicating that this could be a reasonable option as a salvage treatment for metastatic STS.

Keyword

Refractory soft-tissue sarcoma; Docetaxel; Gemcitabine; Weekly

MeSH Terms

Deoxycytidine
Disease-Free Survival
Doxorubicin
Drug Therapy, Combination
Humans
Ifosfamide
Leiomyosarcoma
Medical Records
Retrospective Studies
Sarcoma
Taxoids
Deoxycytidine
Doxorubicin
Ifosfamide
Taxoids

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Progression-free survival (PFS, A) and overall survival (OS, B). CI, confidence interval.

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  Fig. 2 Progression-free survival (PFS, A) and overall survival (OS, B) according to the previous lines of chemotherapy before weekly gemcitabine-docetaxel combination therapy.

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  Fig. 3 Progression-free survival (PFS, A) and overall survival (OS, B) according to the justification for chemotherapy regimen change.

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  Fig. 4 Progression-free survival (PFS, A) and overall survival (OS, B) according to disease response to weekly gemcitabine-docetaxel treatment. PR, partial response; SD, stable disease.

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  Fig. 5 Progression-free survival (PFS, A) and overall survival (OS, B) according to histology.

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