Key clinical point: Residual cancer burden (RCB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was prognostic for event-free survival (EFS) in each hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) subtype of breast cancer.
Major finding: RCB was prognostic for EFS with the hazard ratio associated with each unit increase in RCB being 1.69 ( P < .0001) for the overall population and ranging from 1.52 in HR -positive/HER2-negative group to 2.09 in HR-negative/HER2-positive group ( P < .0001 for all subtypes).
Study details: Findings are pooled analysis of 4 trials and 8 clinical cohorts, including 5,161 adult patients with primary stage I-III breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute, USA. Some of the authors declared serving as a consultant, data and safety monitoring advisor, and/or receiving grants, funding, personal fees, travel support, and honoraria from several sources.
Source: Yau C et al. Lancet Oncol. 2021 Dec 10. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(21)00589-1 .