Citations

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ixabepilone in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) resistant to anthracycline, taxane, and capecitabine, in this multicenter, phase II study. Patients and Methods Patients with measurable disease who had tumor progression while receiving prior anthracycline, taxane, and capecitabine were enrolled. Ixabepilone 40 mg/m2 monotherapy was administered as a 3-hour intravenous infusion on day 1 of a 21-day cycle. The primary end point was objective response rate (ORR), assessed by an independent radiology facility (IRF). Results A total of 126 patients were treated and 113 were assessable for response. Patients were heavily pretreated: 88% had received at least two lines of prior chemotherapy in the metastatic setting. IRF-assessed ORR was 11.5% (95% CI, 6.3% to 18.9%) for response-assessable patients. Investigator-assessed ORR for all treated patients was 18.3% (95% CI, 11.9% to 26.1%). Fifty percent of patients achieved stable disease (SD); 14.3% achieved SD ≥ 6 months. Median duration of response and progression-free survival were 5.7 and 3.1 months, respectively. Median overall survival was 8.6 months. Patients received a median of 4.0 treatment cycles (range, one to 16 cycles), and 25% of patients received ≥ eight cycles. Grade 3/4 treatment-related events included peripheral sensory neuropathy (14%), fatigue/asthenia (13%), myalgia (8%), and stomatitis/mucositis (6%). Resolution of grade 3/4 peripheral sensory neuropathy occurred after a median period of 5.4 weeks. Conclusion Ixabepilone demonstrated clear activity and a manageable safety profile in patients with MBC resistant to anthracycline, taxane, and capecitabine. Responses were durable and notable in patients who had not previously responded to multiple prior therapies.

In this study we examine factors which are associated with nursing home placement in terms of both their frequency of occurrence and the degree to which caregivers perceive them to have influenced placement. We propose “Tolerance Weighted Frequency Indices “ (TWFIs) to rank symptoms in terms of their association with placement decisions. Given our method for calculating TWFIs we observe that basic activity of daily living impairments appear to have a comparatively stronger association with nursing home placement than many disruptive behaviors. These findings emphasize the importance of management of ADL impairments in strategies designed to delay or prevent nursing home placement.