Weekly Paclitaxel in the Adjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer

We compared the efficacy of two different taxanes, docetaxel and paclitaxel, given either weekly or every 3 weeks, in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.

We enrolled 4950 women with axillary lymph node-positive or high-risk, lymph node-negative breast cancer. After randomization, all patients first received 4 cycles of intravenous doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide at 3-week intervals and were then assigned to intravenous paclitaxel or docetaxel given at 3-week intervals for 4 cycles or at 1-week intervals for 12 cycles. The primary end point was disease-free survival.