The breast cancer drugs called taxanes, which include Taxol (paclitaxel) and Taxotere (docetaxel), increase survival rates when used as part of chemotherapy following surgery for cancers that have not spread, according to a new review of the research.The review, which compared chemotherapy regimes using taxanes with those that did not, comprised 12 studies including 21,191 women.“For patients, this study confirms that including taxanes in an adjuvant chemotherapy regimen for early breast cancer will improve their chance of living longer and remaining free of breast cancer,” said review coauthor, Anna Nowak, M.D. “It also provides reassurance that there are many different ways of giving a taxane and that the individual choice of regimen may not be critical.”
