Perioperative Chemotherapy After Primary Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

Summary

The role of early timing of adjuvant chemotherapy was postulated to be particularly important for patients with endocrine non-responsive disease. The role of cytotoxicity during the period of breast surgery itself and immediately after (perioperative chemotherapy) remained unknown. We investigated in a randomized trial the role of perioperative chemotherapy in patients treated with a preoperative chemotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer and compare it to the preoperative chemotherapy without additional cytotoxic therapy during and immediately after definitive surgery. Patients with T2-3 N0-2 M0 breast cancer, with both estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PgR) expressed in less than 20% of tumor cells, or with absence of progesterone receptors, received up to 6 courses of primary systemic therapy with epirubicin 25 mg/m2 intravenously (i.v.) on days 1 and 2, cisplatin 60 mg/m2 i.v. on day 1, and 5-fluorouracil 200 mg/m2 i.v. daily as continuous infusion (ECF). Patients achieving a partial or complete remission were randomized to continue the infusion of fluorouracil until 2 weeks after surgery (perioperative treatment arm) or to stop fluorouracil infusion one week before surgery, on day 21 of the sixth cycle (control arm).

Timeline

Start

2000-02

Primary completion

—

Completion

2005-06

Publications

• Background Clahsen PC, van de Velde CJ, Goldhirsch A, Rossbach J, Sertoli MR, Bijnens L, Sylvester RJ. Overview of randomized perioperative polychemotherapy trials in women with early-stage breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 1997 Jul;15(7):2526-35. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1997.15.7.2526.
• Background Colleoni M, Gelber S, Coates AS, Castiglione-Gertsch M, Gelber RD, Price K, Rudenstam CM, Lindtner J, Collins J, Thurlimann B, Holmberg SB, Cortes-Funes H, Simoncini E, Murray E, Fey M, Goldhirsch A; International Breast Cancer Study Group. Influence of endocrine-related factors on response to perioperative chemotherapy for patients with node-negative breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2001 Nov 1;19(21):4141-9. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2001.19.21.4141.
• Background Ludwig Breast Cancer Study Group. Prolonged disease-free survival after one course of perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy for node-negative breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 1989 Feb 23;320(8):491-6. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198902233200804.

Drugs

Indications