For women with early-stage breast cancer, adding paclitaxel to standard chemotherapy can improve their chances of survival, Spanish researchers report.

Dr. Miguel Martin, from Hospital Universitario San Carlos in Madrid, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 1246 women with breast cancer and lymph node involvement. They underwent breast cancer surgery and were then given chemo with fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) alone or FEC followed by paclitaxel.

The researchers report their findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

At 5 years, the rate of survival free of disease in the FEC-paclitaxel group was 78.5 percent, significantly higher than the 72.1 percent rate in the FEC-only group.

The improved disease-free survival seen with FEC-paclitaxel was mainly due to a reduction in the number of distant breast cancer relapses, Martin’s team notes.

Overall survival at 5 years was also higher in the FEC-paclitaxel group than in the FEC-only group (89.9 percent vs. 87.1 percent), but this difference was not significant from a statistical standpoint.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, May 27, 2008.