Response was assessed after each 8-week treatment cycle, and were evaluable for 236 of 296 patients.

There is a 25% success rate of this procedure per treatment cycle.

Between 6 and 12 treatment cycles have been recommended by the producers.

Capecitabine is usually given in a treatment cycle of 2 weeks on and 1 week off.

It took several minutes for the treatment cycle to complete.

Each treatment cycle lasted 12 weeks and was followed by a 4-week break period.

A second group received the same dose but over a longer period, six treatment cycles as opposed to four.

The third group received half the standard dose of the drugs over four treatment cycles.

Among patients who finished at least one full treatment cycle, the average survival was even higher, about 8.6 months.

Success, measured by the rate of live births per treatment cycles, was about 25 percent that year.