Weekly doxorubicin in the treatment of metastatic breast carcinoma.

The introduction of aggressive combination chemotherapy has not been accompanied by any significant prolongation of survival in metastatic breast carcinoma. Hence, there is a need of less toxic but--in terms of palliation--effective chemotherapeutic regimens. This paper concerns 50 patients with progressive metastatic breast carcinoma who were treated with weekly bolus injections of doxorubicin (15-20 mg). All patients were followed until disease progression. A partial response with a mean duration of 6 months was achieved in 7 patients (14%). In addition, stabilization of disease was observed in 24 patients (48%) during 2-34 months. The toxicity was generally mild. It is concluded that weekly doxorubicin with fairly low doses is a moderately effective treatment in stage IV breast carcinoma. It is devoid of severe toxicity which makes it useful even in old and debilitated patients.