Objective To systematically evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of capecitabine plus docetaxel in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer where anthracycline has failed as a treatment.
Methods We electronically searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library (2008, issue 4), and CBM to Sept. 2008. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs about capecitabine plus docetaxel combination therapy in anthracycline-pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer were identified. Study selection and analyses were undertaken according to the Cochrane Handbook, and RevMan 5.0 was applied for statistical analyses. The following was studied: total survival time, the development time of disease, reaction rate, the mid-survival time, adverse events and quality of life.
Results Three RCTs involving 672 patients with metastatic breast cancer were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that the overall survival (MD=3.00, 95%CI 1.64 to 4.36), disease time to progression (MD=1.85, 95%CI 1.15 to 2.55), and the response rate (RR=1.29, 95%CI 1.09 to 1.52) were superior in the combination arm to the docetaxel alone arm.
Conclusion The current evidence available shows that the combination of capecitabine and docetaxel may significantly improve the short-term efficacy comparing with docetaxel alone. However, adverse events and long-term efficacy are not clear; more high-quality RCTs should be conducted.
Citation： LI Yali,XIAO Jialing,YANG Kehu,MA Bin. Capecitabine plus Docetaxel for Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2009, 09(8): 893-898. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.20090157 Copy