Side-effects of Pre-operative Epirubicin-Paclitaxel Therapy in Primary Breast Cancer Associated with Tumor Biology

Background: The objective of this analysis is to identify relationships between side-effects, tumor biological factors and response to pre-operative epirubicin and paclitaxel therapy in primary breast cancer. Patients and Methods: The study was completed for 38 primary breast cancer patients (M0) who received pre-operative epirubicin and paclitaxel chemotherapy. Anemia was controlled by epoetin alfa and did not cause deviations from the planned chemotherapy schedule. Results: There were no severe adverse events, cardiotoxicity or neutropenia. Patients with negative estrogen or progesterone receptors, or high KI-67 suffered more alopecia, while HER2 overexpressing patients had less severe nausea. Conclusion: This pre-operative chemotherapy regimen was well tolerated on the whole; side-effect profiles were correlated with tumor biological factors and also with response.