
Letrozole showed efficacy and generally favorable toxicities, along with the convenience of oral administration in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports of the clinical outcomes in Korean patients, although letrozole is widely used in practice. Therefore, this studywas conducted to affirm the efficacy and toxicities of letrozole in Korean patients.This study retrospectively analyzed 84 HR-positive MBC patients who had been treated with letrozole from January 2001 to December 2012. Clinicopathological characteristics and treatment history were extracted from medicalrecords. All patients received 2.5 mg letrozole once a day until there were disease progressions or unacceptable toxicity. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint, and secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), and toxicity.The median age of the subjects was 59.3 years. Letrozole treatment resulted in a median PFS of 16.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.8 to 23.8) and a median OS of 56.4 months (95% CI, 38.1 to 74.7). The ORR was 36.9% for the 84 patients with measurable lesions. Multivariate analysis revealed symptomatic visceral disease (hazard ratio, 3.437; 95% CI, 1.576 to 7.495; p=0.002) and a disease-free interval ≤ 2 years (hazard ratio, 2.697; 95% CI, 1.262 to 5.762; p=0.010) were independently associated with shorter PFS. However, sensitivity to adjuvant hormone treatment was not related to PFS. Letrozole was generally well tolerated.Letrozole showed considerable efficacy and tolerability as a first-line treatment in postmenopausal patients with HR-positive MBC.
Receptor, ErbB-2, Aromatase Inhibitors / therapeutic use*, Triazoles / therapeutic use*, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Nitriles / therapeutic use*, Triazoles / administration & dosage, Receptors, 80 and over, Nitriles / adverse effects, Neoplasm Metastasis, Aged, 80 and over, Tumor, Antineoplastic Agents / administration & dosage, Breast Neoplasms / mortality, Aromatase Inhibitors, Middle Aged, Metastatic breast cancer, Combined Modality Therapy, Triazoles / adverse effects, Postmenopause, Treatment Outcome, Aromatase Inhibitors / adverse effects, Receptors, Estrogen, Estrogen / metabolism*, Letrozole, Breast Neoplasms / pathology, Original Article, Female, Receptors, Progesterone, Receptor, Adult, Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*, First-line treatment, 610, Antineoplastic Agents, Breast Neoplasms, Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*, Aromatase Inhibitors / administration & dosage, Republic of Korea, Nitriles, Hormone receptor-positive, Biomarkers, Tumor, Humans, Nitriles / administration & dosage, Aged, Korea, Antineoplastic Agents / adverse effects, Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*, Progesterone / metabolism*, Survival Analysis, ErbB-2 / metabolism, Postmenopause*, Biomarkers, Follow-Up Studies
Receptor, ErbB-2, Aromatase Inhibitors / therapeutic use*, Triazoles / therapeutic use*, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Nitriles / therapeutic use*, Triazoles / administration & dosage, Receptors, 80 and over, Nitriles / adverse effects, Neoplasm Metastasis, Aged, 80 and over, Tumor, Antineoplastic Agents / administration & dosage, Breast Neoplasms / mortality, Aromatase Inhibitors, Middle Aged, Metastatic breast cancer, Combined Modality Therapy, Triazoles / adverse effects, Postmenopause, Treatment Outcome, Aromatase Inhibitors / adverse effects, Receptors, Estrogen, Estrogen / metabolism*, Letrozole, Breast Neoplasms / pathology, Original Article, Female, Receptors, Progesterone, Receptor, Adult, Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*, First-line treatment, 610, Antineoplastic Agents, Breast Neoplasms, Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*, Aromatase Inhibitors / administration & dosage, Republic of Korea, Nitriles, Hormone receptor-positive, Biomarkers, Tumor, Humans, Nitriles / administration & dosage, Aged, Korea, Antineoplastic Agents / adverse effects, Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*, Progesterone / metabolism*, Survival Analysis, ErbB-2 / metabolism, Postmenopause*, Biomarkers, Follow-Up Studies
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 2 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
