The effect of adjuvant 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine in early stage breast cancer patients: results from a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Int J Oncol. 2002 Mar;20(3):517-25.

Abstract

To assess the efficacy of 5'-DFUR, an intermediate of capecitabine, for adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer, we conducted an open-labeled multi-center randomized controlled trial to compare postoperative 5'-DFUR treatment with surgery alone. We enrolled 1217 primary breast cancer patients and randomly assigned them into two treatment groups; one received six-month postoperative 5'-DFUR treatment by consecutive or intermittent administration, and the other surgery alone. Follow-up surveys were conducted once a year for all subjects simultaneously and examined their outcome/presence or absence of the cancer recurrence. The central study committee reviewed all follow-up data and judged the recurrence data to be used for the analysis. Eight-year follow-up data showed no significant differences in relapse-free and overall survival between the two groups, and 5'-DFUR treatment regimen showed an extremely high tolerance. Possible explanations are discussed for the finding of no significant survival difference between adjuvant 6-month 5'-DFUR monotherapy and surgery alone in early breast cancer.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / therapeutic use*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / surgery
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Floxuridine / therapeutic use*
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Recurrence
  • Time Factors
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic
  • Floxuridine
  • doxifluridine