Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Older Patients with Breast Cancer

Older breast cancer patients who have concurrent illnesses and declining performance status can experience greater toxicity from adjuvant chemotherapy than younger patients. Might a more “user-friendly” chemotherapy program be as effective as conventional adjuvant chemotherapy? To answer this question, investigators conducted an industry-supported, prospective randomized trial of the oral fluorouracil prodrug capecitabine (Xeloda) in patients with early-stage breast cancer (stage I–III; age, ≥65).

Patients were randomly assigned to 6 cycles of capecitabine (2 g/m² daily for 14 consecutive days every 3 weeks) or to one of two standard chemotherapy regimens (6 cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil or 4 cycles of doxorubi…