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Association between patient reported outcomes and quantitative sensory tests for measuring long-term neurotoxicity in breast cancer survivors treated with adjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy

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Abstract

Neurotoxicity is a common side-effect during taxane therapy. The prevalence and severity of long-term neurotoxicity following therapy is unknown. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of 50 consecutive patients with stage I–III BC, who were within 6 months and 2 years of completing adjuvant taxane therapy and a prospective study of 50 women initiating taxane therapy. Patients in the cross-sectional study underwent a one-time evaluation while patients in the prospective study underwent evaluation at baseline, following therapy, and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after completing therapy. Assessments included quantitative sensory testing (QST) for touch perception and vibration threshold and the FACT-GOG Neurotaxane (FACT/GOG-Ntx). For the cross-sectional study, 81% of the women reported symptoms of numbness and/or discomfort in the hands and/or feet in the past week. Severe symptoms were reported in 27% of patients for the hands and 25% for the feet. In the cross-sectional analysis, hand numbness/discomfort correlated with hand vibration QST. In the prospective study, the mean scores on the FACT/GOG-Ntx decreased from 37.5 to 28.7 post-treatment (P = 0.0002), and remained low 12 months after treatment. The changes in hand/foot numbness/discomfort were significantly associated with change in vibration threshold. No significant change was seen in touch perception. Numbness and discomfort in the hands and feet are common for up to 2 years following taxane therapy, and are associated with vibration threshold. The FACT/GOG-Ntx is an appropriate outcome measure for clinical trials evaluating ways to prevent long-term neurotoxicity in BC survivors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Dawn L. Hershman, Grace Kranwinkel, Lois Brafman, Deborah Fuentes, Danielle Awad & Katherine D. Crew

  2. Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Louis H. Weimer

  3. Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Dawn L. Hershman, Antai Wang & Katherine D. Crew

  4. Columbia University, 161 Fort Washington Avenue, 10-1068, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Dawn L. Hershman

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  1. Dawn L. Hershman
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Correspondence to Dawn L. Hershman.

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Dr. Hershman is the recipient an Advanced Clinical Research Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology/Avon Foundation. Dr. Crew is the recipient of a Career Development Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and The American Cancer Society.

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Hershman, D.L., Weimer, L.H., Wang, A. et al. Association between patient reported outcomes and quantitative sensory tests for measuring long-term neurotoxicity in breast cancer survivors treated with adjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat 125, 767–774 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1278-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1278-0

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