CAF and nasal buserelin in the treatment of premenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer.

This study was undertaken to determine whether intranasally administered buserelin, a gonadotrophin releasing hormone analog agonist, can be given with CAF to premenopausal women with advanced and/or metastatic breast cancer, and to assess toxicity and therapeutic effect. Of 24 women entered into the study 22 were evaluable; objective responses were documented in 18 patients (seven CR and 11 PR). The median time to treatment failure was 402 days. Buserelin, given with CAF, was well tolerated with the only additional side-effect being hot flushes. Amenorrhea occurred in 13/17 menstruating women and serum estradiol levels decreased to postmenopausal values in all patients.