Hope against breast cancer

A diagnosis of breast cancer is a harrowing experience, especially when one considers the statistics that go with the disease. 

Recent data show that 6,360 breast cancer patients die each year in the country, making it the single leading cause of death among Filipinas.

But with the advancement in the way breast cancer is being diagnosed, there’s more reason than ever to be hopeful. While there was a time when breast cancer can only be diagnosed when the tumor is big enough to see or feel, there are now ways to detect the disease in its early stage. 

Aside from diagnosis, treatment methods and drugs for the disease are now more sophisticated. Chemotherapy is less harsh today than in years past. This method can reduce tumor size before surgery, prevent recurrence afterwards and treat cancer that has metastasized (cancer has spread beyond its initial location). 

One of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents available today is docetaxel, a well-studied drug of Sanofi-Aventis. 

Docetaxel is a clinically well-established medication used mainly for treatment of breast cancer. It is also used in treating ovarian, non-small cell lung cancer, hormone refractory prostate, gastric and head and neck cancers. 

Landmark clinical trials have shown that docetaxel is better than doxorubicin and paclitaxel and fluorouracil in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer after failure of prior chemotherapy.

In a study comparing docetaxel to doxorubicin, the group taking docetaxel showed a significantly higher overall response rate (45.3 percent versus 29.7 percent). 

When compared with paclitaxel, docetaxel achieved a significantly longer median overall survival at 15.4 months versus 12.7 months for paclitaxel. Results of the study were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A clinical trial showed that post-surgery treatment with docetaxel injection concentrate as part of the TAC (Taxotere, anthracycline, cyclophosphamide) treatment regimen improves the disease free survival of women with high-risk node-negative early stage breast cancer compared to the standard treatment of FAC regimen (five-fluorouracil, anthracycline, cyclophosphamide).

The trial, GEICAM (Grupo Español de Investigacionen Cancer de Mama) 9805/Target-0 which began in 2003, is the first taxane-based study to exclusively enroll women with node negative early stage breast cancer considered to be at high risk for recurrence. 

The study enrolled 1059 women who were randomized to receive either TAC or FAC after surgical resection of their tumors.