Dr. Gralow Discusses Toxicities Observed in the SWOG S0307 Trial

Julie R. Gralow, MD, director, Breast Medical Oncology, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, clinical research division, member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Care Center, professor, Medical Oncology Division, University of Washington School of Medicine, discusses toxicities observed in the SWOG S0307 trial, which examined bisphosphonates as adjuvant therapy in primary breast cancer.

Gralow says overall, the adverse event rate of adding bisphosphonates did not add a lot to grade 3 or 4 toxicities. The trial compared a wide variety of known bisphosphonate side effects such as kidney toxicities, pain syndromes, osteonecrosis of the jaw and fractures. The study showed that the fractures occurred across all three arms at only 4-5%, Gralow says. Osteonecrosis of the jaw was seen in 40 patients out of 6000, but it was more common in the zoledronic acid group and least common in the clodronate group.

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