FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Contact: Leah C. Payne, Director of Public Affairs, Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, 304-691-1713

School of Medicine research highlighted in national cancer publication

Paclitaxel regimens for breast cancer treatment compared

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Mohamed F. Alsharedi, M.D., medical oncology fellow at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a team of researchers recently had their findings spotlighted in a publication by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Alsharedi and colleagues compared the tolerability of dose-dense paclitaxel with the tolerability of weekly doses of paclitaxel and presented their findings at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) annual conference.

The research team reported the results of a retrospective analysis of 121 patients treated between 2008 and 2014 with the two main paclitaxel regimens. The comparisons were between four cycles of standard dose-dense paclitaxel and 12 weekly paclitaxel cycles.

“To our knowledge there are no other data in the literature comparing the toxicities and tolerability between these two commonly used regimens,” Alsharedi said. “The toxicity was comparable, even for the most concerning side effect, neuropathy.”

Paclitaxel is a commonly used chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Alsharedi says he hopes the data will be used to inform patients that the two regimens are comparable when it comes to toxicities and that patients can choose between the regimens, based on factors other than toxicity.

In addition to Alsharedi, the research team includes Maria R. Tirona, M.D., Todd W. Gress, M.D., and Jennifer L. Dotson, D.O. 

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Date Posted: Thursday, June 4, 2015