PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - El-Hadaad, Hend Ahmed
AU  - AHMED WAHBA, Hanan
TI  - Gemcitabine and Docetaxel as a Second-Line Treatment in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcomas
AID  - 10.1007/s11805-011-0571-y
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - Clinical Oncology and Cancer Research
PG  - 133--137
VI  - 8
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.cancerbiomed.org/content/8/3/133.short
4100  - http://www.cancerbiomed.org/content/8/3/133.full
SO  - Cancer Biol Med2011 Sep 01; 8
AB  - OBJECTIVE Promising anti-tumor activity in patients with metastatic or unresectable soft tissue sarcomas has been reported with gemcitabine and/or docetaxel.METHODS Forty patients with advanced soft tissue sarcomas refractory to first-line chemotherapy treatment were enrolled. They received combination of gemcitabine at dose of 900 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel at dose of 100 mg/m2 on day 8, and had this regimen repeated every 3 weeks. If the patients had received the pelvic irradiation in advance, gemcitabine dose was reduced to 675 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 and docetaxel to 75 mg/m2 on day 8, and had it repeated every 3 weeks.RESULTS Gemcitabine/docetaxel combination was well tolerated by the patients with an overall response of 20%. After median follow-up of 15 months, a median overall survival time was 12 months (95% CI 7.042–16.958) and a median progression free survival time was 6 months (95% CI 5.445–6.545). The most common hematologic toxicity was neutropenia (47.5%) while mucositis was the most common non- hematologic toxicity (45%). The 1- and 2-year survival rates were 50% and 15%, respectively.CONCLUSION This regimen of gemcitabine/docetaxel combination as second-line treatment for the patients with advanced soft tissue sarcomas is effective with acceptable toxicities. These results should be evaluated in a large phase III trial.