RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well docetaxel works in treating older women with metastatic breast cancer and whether it helps improve the ability to perform daily activities.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention	Phase
Quality of Life stage IV breast cancer recurrent breast cancer	Drug: docetaxel  Procedure: chemotherapy	Phase II

Further Study Details: 

OBJECTIVES: Primary

• Determine degree of autonomy in instrumental activities of daily living on-therapy and at 6 and 12 months, as measured by Lawton's Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, in older women with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the breast treated with docetaxel.

Secondary

• Determine the response rate in patients treated with this drug.
• Determine overall and progression-free survival of patients treated with this drug.
• Determine the degree of autonomy in daily activities as measured by Katz's Activities of Daily Living Scale, in patients treated with this drug.
• Determine mood status, as measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale, of patients treated with this drug.
• Determine toxicity of this drug in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients receive docetaxel IV on days 1 and 15. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 6 courses.

Ability to perform daily activities is assessed periodically.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 53 patients will be accrued for this study.

Ages Eligible for Study:  70 Years and above,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the breast
• Metastatic disease
• Measurable disease by CT scan or MRI
• Requires first-line chemotherapy for metastatic disease
• Hormone receptor status:
• Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age

• 70 and over

Sex

• Female

Menopausal status

• Not specified

Performance status

• Meets both of the following criteria:
• Lawton's Instrumental Activities of Daily Living score ≥ 4
• Katz's Activities of Daily Living score ≥ 4

Life expectancy

• More than 3 months

Hematopoietic

• Hemoglobin > 10 g/dL
• Neutrophil count > 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• ALT and AST < 1.5 times normal
• Bilirubin normal
• Alkaline phosphatase < 2.5 times normal

Renal

• Creatinine clearance > 30 mL/min

Cardiovascular

• No congestive heart failure
• No unstable angina pectoris
• No myocardial infarction within the past year
• No uncontrolled hypertension
• No high-risk uncontrolled arrhythmias

Other

• Geriatric Depression Score < 12
• No active uncontrolled infection
• No active peptic ulcer
• No uncontrolled diabetes mellitus
• No inflammatory bowel disease
• No history of hypersensitivity to docetaxel or drugs formulated with polysorbate 80
• No history of significant neurologic or psychiatric disorders, including psychotic disorders, dementia, or seizures, that would preclude giving informed consent
• No familial, social, geographical, or psychological condition that would preclude study follow-up
• No definite contraindication to corticosteroids
• No other serious illness or medical condition
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy

• No prior or concurrent trastuzumab (Herceptin^®)

Chemotherapy

• Prior neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer allowed
• More than 2 years since prior docetaxel or paclitaxel
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• No more than 1 prior hormonal therapy regimen for metastatic disease
• At least 10 days since prior hormonal therapy
• No concurrent hormonal therapy
• No concurrent chronic corticosteroids
• Concurrent low-dose corticosteroids (≤ 20 mg/day of methylprednisolone or equivalent) allowed provided treatment was initiated > 6 months before study entry

Radiotherapy

• Not specified

Surgery

• Not specified

Other

• More than 30 days since prior active treatment on another clinical trial
• Concurrent bisphosphonates allowed for bone metastases, osteoporosis, or osteopenia
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy
• No other concurrent investigational drugs

France
      Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif,  F-94805,  France; Recruiting

Study chairs or principal investigators

Suzette Delaloge,  Study Chair,  Institut Gustave Roussy   

Study ID Numbers:  CDR0000417747; FRE-FNCLCC-GERICO-04/0406; EU-20504; NCT00104624
Record last reviewed:  February 2005
Last Updated:  March 15, 2005
Record first received:  March 3, 2005
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00104624
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08