BACKGROUND:In the treatment of many types of cancer, combination chemotherapy has been shown to be better than single-agent chemotherapy.
The aim of our phase I-II clinical trial was to assess the efficacy and toxicity of docetaxel-ifosfamide combination chemotherapy in patients with castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer (CRPC).
PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 31 patients were enrolled to receive first-line chemotherapy consisting of 40-60 mg/m2 docetaxel followed by 3.0 g/m2ifosfamide with mesna. All drugs were administered intravenously. The maximum duration of the chemotherapy was six cycles. The median age of the patients was 70 (range 58-82) years. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) responses were determined according to the PSA working group guidelines and all toxicities, time-to-progression and overall survival were determined according to the WHO criteria.
RESULTS:The objective PSA response rate was 32% in 11/31 patients. The mean PSA value at baseline was 300 (range 2.5-1577) μg/l. The overall median survival was 14.1 months; 15 patients were alive at a median follow-up time of 18 months. The observed side-effects were as expected, with grade 3-4 neutropenia developing in 38% of the cycles, whereas febrile neutropenia occurred in only 12% of the patients. The median number of administered cycles was 4.8. No acute hypersensitivity reactions were observed. Transient renal insufficiency developed in two patients, thus necessitating dose reductions.
CONCLUSION: The combination of docetaxel and ifosfamide seems to be well-tolerated and has some activity in patients with CRPC. However, newer docetaxel-based combination chemotherapy regimens need to be further developed in other to provide more efficacious and well-tolerated treatment options for earlier phases of CRPC.
Written by:
Hervonen P, Tulijoki T, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen P. Are you the author?
Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
Reference: Anticancer Res. 2012 Aug;32(8):3305-9.
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22843906
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