Chemotherapy with Docetaxel is usually given on a once every three (3) week schedule of 75 mg/m2 administered intravenously + prednisolone (10 mg/day p.o.) for men with advanced prostate cancer. In the cases when the side effects are too difficult for a man to tolerate, the dose is often reduced to 50 mg/m2 administered intravenously + prednisolone (10 mg/day p.o.) every two (2) weeks.
It has always been assumed that the every two-week dosing is not as effective as the every three-week schedule with higher doses. Recently, a study done in Finland has suggested that men with advanced prostate cancer who are castrate resistant may have superior outcomes with less side effects at the lower, every two-week schedule.
The paper describing this study was published in Lancet Oncology. The study was a multi-centered clinical trial specifically designed to evaluate the efficacy of the two different treatment protocols.
The trial was conducted between March 31, 2004 and May 31, 2009. All men who were participating were castrate resistant and had a PSA score greater than 10.0. They were all chemotherapy naive.
The men were split in