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Detection of risk factors related to administration suspension and severe neutropenia in gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel treatment

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Abstract

Purpose

The combination of gemcitabine (GEM) and nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) is an effective chemotherapeutic regimen for locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer. The dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of this treatment are sepsis and neutropenia, while the relative dose intensity (RDI) of GEM is approximately 75% and of nab-PTX is 70–80%. In this study, we evaluated the risk factor(s) regarding treatment suspension, which leads to reduction in the RDI of these agents, enabling appropriate schedule management.

Methods

Two hundred patients with pancreatic cancer who received GEM + nab-PTX were retrospectively investigated. Frequency and risk factor(s) of suspension of the treatment and grade 3/4 neutropenia in the first course were evaluated.

Results

The frequency of treatment suspension in the first course was 61%. The frequency of grade 3/4 neutropenia was 51%, while that of thrombocytopenia was 7.5%. The RDI was 78.0% for GEM and 77.7% for nab-PTX. Univariate and multivariate analyses to identify risk or preventive factors related to treatment suspension suggested that low platelet count at baseline was a risk factor, whereas dose reduction from the treatment initiation was a preventive factor. The most common cause of abeyance was grade 3/4 neutropenia (83.6%), the risk factors of which were low platelet count and age ≥ 65 years at baseline, while dose reduction was a preventive factor.

Conclusion

We found that a low platelet level at baseline was a risk factor, whereas dose reduction from initiation was a preventive factor in regard to treatment suspension and severe neutropenia occurrence in GEM + nab-PTX treatment.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Participated in research design: YS, TY, and MK

Conducted experiments: YS

Performed data analysis: YS

Wrote or contributed to the writing of the manuscript: YS, TY, MK, YK, and MS

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitsuru Sugawara.

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Conflict of interest

YS, MK, YT, and MS have no conflicts of interest. YK reports honoraria from Pfizer, Novartis, and Bayer, and research funding from Eli Lilly, MSD, Ono Pharmaceutical, Novartis, Bayer, Chugai Pharma, Yakult, and Taiho, having provided speaker services for Eli Lilly, Chugai Pharma, Merck Serono, Novartis, Pfizer, Bayer, and Taiho.

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All the procedures performed in studies involving human participants were carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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Saito, Y., Takekuma, Y., Kobayashi, M. et al. Detection of risk factors related to administration suspension and severe neutropenia in gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel treatment. Support Care Cancer 29, 3277–3285 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05842-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05842-x

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