Paclitaxel in combination with carboplatin as salvage treatment in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer: a Hellenic oncology research group multicenter phase II study

Introduction To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of biweekly paclitaxel and carboplatin combination in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Patients and methods Patients were treated with paclitaxel at the dose of 135 mg/m(2) followed by carboplatin AUC 3 on day 1 every 2 weeks in cycles of 28 days. Results Thirty-eight patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer were enrolled, and all of them had received frontline chemotherapy with docetaxel and prednisone, while 24 (63.2 %) had received 2 or more prior chemotherapy regimens. In an intention-to-treatment analysis, a clinical and/or biochemical response (>50 % decline) was observed in 10 patients (26.3 %; 95 % CI, 12.3-40.3 %), stable disease in 13 (34.2 %) and progressive disease in 15 (39.5 %). The median duration of response was 6.1 months (range, 1.0-9.8), the median time to tumor progression (TTP) 3.6 months (95 % CI, 2.1-5.2) and the median overall survival 9.9 months (95 % CI, 6.2-13.6). The probability for 1-year survival was 43 %. Grade 3 and 4 neutropenia was observed in three (7.9 %) and nine (23.7 %) patients, respectively. Conclusion The biweekly administration of paclitaxel/carboplatin regimen in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer is an active and well-tolerated regimen which merits to be further evaluated in the context of salvage treatment.