[Treatment strategy to obtain cure for recurrent advanced breast cancer]

Abstract

The three-year survival rate of a total of 186 patients with recurrent advanced breast cancer was 86% for complete responders, 27% for partial responders, and 29% for patients remaining in stable diseases, respectively, at our two institutions. Thus, the results indicated that a complete response is the first step for long-term survival. High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell support was administered after 4 cycles of induction chemotherapy. The results showed 12 complete response (60%) out of 20 patients, and 5 cases survived with no evidences of disease for 5-31 months. Both taxol and taxotere achieved response rates exceeding 50% in phase II trials on advanced breast cancer and therefore were expected to have a role in combination regimens with other drugs.