Key clinical point: The prophylactic use of etoricoxib reduced the incidence and severity of taxane-associated acute pain syndrome (T-APS) and potentially attenuated docetaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients receiving docetaxel-based chemotherapy for breast cancer (BC).
Major finding: Incidence rates of all T-APS (57.1% vs 91.5%) and severe T-APS (11.4% vs 54.9%; both P < .001) were significantly lower in the etoricoxib vs no treatment group. At 3 months follow-up after 4 cycles of docetaxel chemotherapy, the etoricoxib vs no treatment group showed a significantly higher mean Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment Neurotoxicity subscale score (38.46 vs 34.59; P < .001).
Study details: Findings are from a phase 2 study including 144 adult women with stage I-III BC who received 4 cycles of docetaxel-based chemotherapy and were randomly assigned to receive prophylactic etoricoxib or no treatment.
Disclosures: This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other sources. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Zhang J et al. Prevention of taxane-associated acute pain syndrome with etoricoxib for patients with breast cancer: A phase II randomised trial. Eur J Cancer. 2022;171:150-160 (Jun 17). Doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.05.019