Swenerton score useful for selecting high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant candidates.

2003 AUG 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Swenerton score is useful for selecting breast cancer patients likely to realize the most benefit from intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation.

Researchers in the United States conducted a study to determine "the effectiveness of the Swenerton score in assessing extent of disease as an independent prognostic and predictive factor in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who receive high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (AHSCT)."

"Two-hundred thirty-two patients with MBC underwent HDCT," and the "extent of disease was assessed quantitatively using the Swenerton score," according to F. Montemurro and coauthors at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

"A retrospective analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression and logistic regression models," they noted. "One hundred three (44%) patients had a complete response (CR) after HDCT. Bone marrow as source of hematopoietic stem cells, hormone-receptor-negative status, and visceral involvement correlated with both worse overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS)."

"Short disease-free interval, multiple sites of metastatic disease, and less than 50% reduction in the Swenerton Score during induction chemotherapy correlated with worse OS," study data indicated. "Patients in CR at the time of HDCT had better PFS than patients in partial response, stable disease, or progressive disease."

"Fifty-six patients who underwent conversion to CR after HDCT had a similar median OS (not reached vs. 74 months; p=0.51) and PFS duration (22 vs. 44 months; p=0.15) ...