Curative effect of capecitabine maintenance therapy on the recurrence and metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer

Objective To study the maintenance treatment curative effect of capecitabine chemotherapy on recurrent triple-negative breast cancer patients. Methods From December 2012 to December 2014, 60 cases of recurrent triple-negative breast cancer were studied, and randomly divided into experimental group and control group (n=30 each). In the experimental group, the patients were treated with a combination chemotherapy regimen containing capecitabine during the rescue treatment and the curative efficacy was effective, and after complete of the combination chemotherapy capecitabine was ginve continuously to recurrence of the disease progression. In the control group, the chemotherapy was stopped after the rescue treatment was effective and the condition was stable. The effective rate, the time to the disease progression and the adverse reactions were statistically analyzed. Results The effective rate in the experimental group (50.0%) was significantly higher than in the control group (40.0%, P=0.039). The maintenance treatment time in the experiental group was 2.3-19.3 months (mean 6.6 months), and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10.6 months. In the control group, the time to the disease progression was 4.3 months. There was significant difference in the time to the disease progress between two groups (P=0.026). In the experimental group, the adverse reactions during maintenance treatment were bone marrow suppression (36.6%), liver and kidney dysfunction (40.0%), hand foot syndrome (46.7%), gastrointestinal reactions (60.0%). Conclusion Capecitabine as the maintenance treatment regimen for three-negative breast cancer can effectively improve the patient’s symptoms, and delay the progress of the disease. Key words: Capecitabine; Recurrence; Metastasis; Triple-negative breast cancer