First-line Gemcitabine Versus Treatment of Physician’s Choice for Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND/AIM This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of first-line gemcitabine monotherapy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and its effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared with treatment of physician's choice (TPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS We enrolled 96 patients into the first-line gemcitabine group (n=47) or other treatment of physician's choice (TPC) group (n=49) from May 2010 to April 2013. HRQoL was evaluated every 4 weeks. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the median time to treatment failure (5.3 vs. 4.6 months, hazard ratio=0.87, p=0.546) and the incidence rates of grade 3/4 haematological toxicity (10.6% vs. 8.1%, p=0.677) and grade 3/4 non-haematological toxicity (4.2% vs. 8.1%, p=0.429) between the gemcitabine and TPC groups. Changes in HRQoL from baseline to 12 weeks were not significantly different. CONCLUSION Gemcitabine achieves similar efficacy and HRQoL benefit to other chemotherapy and can be used as first-line treatment for MBC.