"Dramatic"

[timothy roome]

Taxotere/Estramustine Gives Longer Prostate Cancer Survival

Combined use of docetaxel (Taxotere) and estramustine phosphate (Emcyt) is
highly active in men with an advanced form of prostate cancer-and use of the
combination may dramatically improve survival, investigators reported at the
36th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

The study was conducted by a group from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
in New York City and was the largest to evaluate the combination of
docetaxel and estramustine in men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
In all, 37 patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer were treated
with 280 mg of estramustine three times a day for 5 days, followed by 70
mg/m² of docetaxel given on the second day of the treatment course. The
treatment was repeated every 3 weeks.

Of the enrolled patients, 25 men had a 50% or greater decrease in their
prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and 14 men had an 80% or greater
decrease on two consecutive measurements at least 2 weeks apart. Five
patients temporarily discontinued treatment when their prostate-specific
antigen (PSA) level decreased to less than 4 ng/dL. Four of these patients
were retreated when their PSA levels began to rise again. Three of the four
patients achieved a 50% or greater decrease in their PSA levels after
retreatment with the combination regimen. This finding indicated that some
patients can discontinue treatment can be discontinued to allow them to for
recovery from toxicity.

[Robert Collins]

What kind of survival times are we talking about?

[timothy roome]

I don't know...it was a blurb from the 36th annual meeting of the ASCO. I
found it at http://intouch.cancernetwork.com/Framesets/patientnews.htm

Robert Collins <iam...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:7131-392...@storefull-132.iap.bryant.webtv.net...