Pathological responses and survival outcomes in patients with locally advanced breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a single-institute experience

Abstract

Abstract Background Pathological complete response (pCR) is a surrogate for the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). We analyzed the predictive clinical factors for pathological responses and survival outcomes in a cohort of Egyptian patients. Methods We evaluated the medical records of patients with breast cancer who received NCT in our academic institute. Survival curves were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional models were used for multiple regression analysis. Results Our cohort included 368 patients with a median age of 48 years (range 21–70). The median follow-up time was 3 years. The clinical tumor stage (T3–4) represented 58%, with 80% having positive axillary nodes. The luminal subgroup prevailed by 68%. The objective response rate (ORR) reached 78%, and 16% of patients achieved pCR. The clinical node stage and optimal chemotherapy were associated with higher ORR (p = 0.035 and p = 0.001, respectively). Predictors of pCR were clinical T-stage (p = 0.026), high Ki-67 index > 20 (p = 0.05), and receiving optimal chemotherapy (p = 0.014). The estimated 3-year disease free-survival (DFS) was 53%. Receptor status, achieving ORR, and pCR were associated with better DFS with hazard ratios of 0.56, p = 0.008; 0.38, p = 0.04; and 0.28, p = 0.007, respectively. Conclusions Luminal tumors still draw benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy in terms of clinical response and breast conservative surgery. Treatment escalation to those who did not achieve pCR requires more investigation, given a higher recurrence rate in real-world experience.

Keywords

• Breast cancer
• Pathological complete response
• Survival outcomes