An Overview of the CALGB 40101 Trial in Breast Cancer

Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, chief of staff, senior vice president for medical affairs, director, Center for Global Cancer Medicine, director, Department of Regional Strategy and Development, chief, Division of General Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the results of the CALGB 40101 trial.

Clinical Pearls

• The CALGB 40101 trial looked at patients who had 0-3 positive axillary nodes and 90% of the patients enrolled in the trial had node-negative disease
• The trial compared standard chemotherapy (adjuvant cyclophosphamide (AC) and doxorubicin) versus paclitaxel. Patients received 6 cycles or 4 cycles of either treatment
• The trial showed that 6 cycles of therapy was not superior to 4 cycles of therapy in any of the subgroups and that paclitaxel was not equivalent to AC