Abstract
Intermittent use of chemotherapy for androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC) instead of treatment until disease progression may reduce toxicity. We prospectively tested this approach in eight AIPC patients responding to calcitriol plus docetaxel who reached a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) <4 ng ml(-1). Chemotherapy was suspended until a rise in PSA>/=50% and 1 ng ml(-1). The median duration of treatment holiday was 20 weeks (13-43+weeks) and all patients retained sensitivity to re-treatment. Chemotherapy holiday was associated with an improvement of fatigue (P=0.05). Intermittent chemotherapy for AIPC is feasible and deserves further study.
Publication types
-
Clinical Trial
-
Clinical Trial, Phase II
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
-
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
-
Aged
-
Aged, 80 and over
-
Androgen Antagonists / adverse effects*
-
Androgen Antagonists / therapeutic use
-
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
-
Bone Neoplasms / drug therapy*
-
Bone Neoplasms / secondary
-
Calcitriol / administration & dosage
-
Dexamethasone / administration & dosage
-
Disease-Free Survival
-
Docetaxel
-
Humans
-
Lymphatic Metastasis
-
Male
-
Middle Aged
-
Paclitaxel / administration & dosage
-
Paclitaxel / analogs & derivatives*
-
Prospective Studies
-
Prostate-Specific Antigen / blood
-
Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
-
Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
-
Survival Rate
-
Taxoids*
Substances
-
Androgen Antagonists
-
Taxoids
-
Docetaxel
-
Dexamethasone
-
Prostate-Specific Antigen
-
Calcitriol
-
Paclitaxel