The aim of this investigation was to assess retrospectively docetaxel safety and efficacy in advanced breast cancer patients in a French compassionate use programme. Patients had received > 1 prior chemotherapy regimen for advanced disease, were either anthracycline-resistant (that is progressed within 6 months after anthracycline-based chemotherapy) or had received the maximum cumulative dose. The recommended docetaxel dose was 100 mg/m2/cycle (75 mg/m2 in case of liver function impairment: transaminases > 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN), alkaline phosphatases > 3 x ULN). Between August 1993 and December 1995, 889 patients were treated in 67 French centres, of whom 870 were evaluable for safety and 825 were evaluable for patient and treatment characteristics and efficacy. 20.5% (of the 825 patients evaluable for baseline characteristics) had poor performance status (PS > or = 2), 49.3% liver metastasis and 9.6% biological liver dysfunction. 98.4% had been previously treated by anthracyclines, 50.8% had resistant disease and 37.1% had received > 2 prior palliative chemotherapy lines. The most frequent severe toxicity, febrile neutropenia (reported in 223/870 (25.6%) patients evaluable for safety), caused 10 deaths, 6 of these being patients with severe liver impairment before inclusion. Fluid retention syndrome and other common non-haematological toxicities were well tolerated. 3.1% (28/889) of all patients and 11.4% of those with liver dysfunction, died from treatment-related causes. The overall response rate in 825 assessable patients was 22.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 20.2-26.2%). Median time to treatment failure was 4 months (95% CI: 3.6-4.3) and median survival was 9.8 months (95% CI: 8.8-10.7). This report on the largest series of unselected advanced breast cancer patients treated with docetaxel, supports previous phase II studies, confirming docetaxel's utility in patients relapsing after failing anthracycline-containing palliative chemotherapy.