Adjuvant dose-dense sequential chemotherapy with epirubicin, CMF and weekly paclitaxel in patients with resected high-risk breast cancer: a Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG) study

Randomized phase III trials have demonstrated that the addition of paclitaxel is effective in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Forty-five patients with high-risk resected breast cancer entered this study. They were treated with three cycles of epirubicin every 2 weeks, followed by three cycles of intensified CMF, every 2 weeks, followed 3 weeks later by nine weekly cycles of paclitaxel (E-CMF-T). Forty patients (89%) received all cycles of chemotherapy and dose intensity was sufficiently maintained for all drugs. Toxicity was generally mild to moderate. Two cases of febrile neutropenia were reported. The E-CMF-T regimen is feasible and well tolerated.