OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness and toxicity of docetaxel for Chinese patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer in a local Hong Kong hospital.
DESIGN: Case series.
SETTING: A tertiary cancer centre in Hong Kong.
PATIENTS: In all, 39 castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients were treated with 3-weekly docetaxel at 75 mg/m2 and prednisolone 10 mg daily between January 2006 and December 2011 in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prostate-specific antigen control rate, pain control rate, progression-free survival, overall survival, and complication rates.
RESULTS: The prostate-specific antigen response rate was 36%, and 27 (69%) of the patients had improved pain control after chemotherapy. The median progression-free survival, cancer-specific survival, and overall survival was 7.8 (95% confidence interval, 4.9-10.8) months, 13.0 (95% confidence interval, 9.6-16.3) months, and 12.2 (95% confidence interval, 9.3-15.1) months, respectively. The grade 3 anaemia and thrombocytopenia rates were 5%, and the neutropenic fever rate was 8%.
CONCLUSIONS: Chemotherapy with docetaxel at a dose of 75 mg/m2 given once every 3 weeks together with daily prednisolone is well tolerated in Chinese and can offer good symptom palliation in suitable patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer.
Written by:
Cheung FY, Leung KC, Ngan RK. Are you the author?
Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 30 Gascoigne Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Reference: Hong Kong Med J. 2013 Apr 3. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.12809/hkmj133804
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23568936
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