Comparison of toxicity profile and tolerability between two standard of care paclitaxel-based adjuvant chemotherapy regimens in breast cancer

In breast cancer, there are two widely used paclitaxel-based adjuvant chemotherapies, either dose dense paclitaxel (ddP) or weekly paclitaxel (wP). To our knowledge, the comparisons of toxicity and tolerability between the two regimens have never been reported in the literature. This is a retrospective single-institution charts review of breast cancer patients who were treated with paclitaxel-based chemotherapy either ddP or wP. In total, 76 and 45 patients with breast cancer received adjuvant standard ddP and wP, respectively. Patient characteristics in both groups were comparable. Our results showed no statistical significant difference in toxicity profile and tolerability between the two regimens. Particularly, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) was equally observed in both schedules. Furthermore, grade 3 and 4 CIPN was observed in 17 and 18 %, respectively (p = 0.93). In terms of tolerability, both regimens resulted in similar rates of hospitalization and treatment discontinuation. Our data analysis indicates no significant difference in toxicity profile between the two standard paclitaxel regimens in breast cancer. However, this is a small sample-sized retrospective study and further prospective trial with a larger sample size is warranted.