Relapse occurrence among Albanian women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with Taxane- based regimens as adjuvant chemotherapy

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the distribution and clinical characteristics of women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with taxane-based regimens as adjuvant chemotherapy in Albania. Methods: A case-series study was conducted at the University Hospital Center Mother Teresa in Tirana during the period 2005-2007 including 35 women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. The clinical diagnosis was based on biopsy findings. A follow-up took place during the period 2010-2012, where the relapse experience was recorded for all women included in the study. Fisher s exact test was used to compare the distribution of demographic and clinical characteristics of women according to their relapse status at the end of the follow-up period. Results: Overall, there were 35 women treated with 4AC-4T Taxane-based (paclitaxel or docetaxel) regimens in this study. Of these, 8 (22.9%) women experienced relapse within four years compared with 27 (77.1%) women who did not manifest relapses after the fourth year of follow-up. Women who experienced relapse were generally younger, had a higher proportion of ductal cancer types and a higher prevalence of at least three positive nodules. Nevertheless, these differences were not statistically significant due to the rather small sample size. Conclusion: This study provides important evidence about the distribution and clinical characteristics of Albanian women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with Taxanebased regimens.