Community use of anthracyclines in metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

1080 Background: For decades, anthracyclines have been among the most useful treatments for women with MBC. Though recent publications have confirmed an overall decline in the use of anthracyclines in BC, most of that decline was felt to be due to its diminished utilization in the adjuvant management of BC. Current community anthracycline usage pattern in MBC is not known. We investigate and report, herein, how community oncologists in the southeast USA are currently utilizing anthracyclines for MBC. Methods: All chemotherapy treatment requests for HER2+ and HER2- Stage 4 BC were examined, from 2009 through 2012. Chi-Square test was performed for interaction between age and anthracycline utilization, with p-value less than 0.05 considered significant. The proportion of women who had been treated previously in the adjuvant setting with low cumulative doses of anthracyclines, which would have some effect upon subsequent use, was not retrievable. Results: During this span, 420 unique chemotherapy requests we...