ESMO 2020: Comparing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Regimens in High-Risk Early Breast Cancer
Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2020
Neoadjuvant treatment with intense dose-dense epirubicin, paclitaxel, cyclophosphamide (iddEPC) significantly improved both invasive disease–free and overall survival in a subgroup of women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer compared with weekly paclitaxel plus liposomal doxorubicin, according to a survival analysis of the GeparOcto trial. However, the latest results of the phase III study—reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 160O)—found no difference in survival for the overall cohort of women with high-risk early breast cancer.
“This supports the concept of effective therapy beyond pathologic complete response in luminal breast cancer patients,” stated Andreas Schneeweiss, MD, of the Heidelberg University Hospital and German Cancer Research Center, Germany, and colleagues.
In this study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 945 patients with high-risk early breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive iddEPC (n = 470) or weekly paclitaxel and liposomal doxorubicin plus carboplatin in triple-negative breast cancer (n = 475). As previously reported, there was no difference in pathologic complete response between the treatment arms.
Patients were followed for a median of 47 months. Overall, there was no difference in invasive disease–free (P = .3357) or overall survival (P = .6371) between the treatment arms. In the subgroup of patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, the 4-year invasive disease–free survival was significantly longer for women treated with iddEPC than with weekly paclitaxel and liposomal doxorubicin (77.9 vs. 62.5%, P = .0284). This result also translated into longer 4-year overall survival (94.7 vs. 80.1%, P = .0388).
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit esmo.org.