Immediate response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy including capecitabine and long-term treatment outcomes of operable breast cancer

The present study was undertaken to determine the relationship between tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy including capecitabine and long-term treatment outcomes in patients with operable breast cancer. material and methods. The study included 139 patients with stage T2-3N0-2M0 breast cancer, who received 2-4 courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with the FAC and САХ regimens. Immediate response was assessed using the RECIST criteria. Long-term treatment outcomes and metastasis-free survival rates were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results. By assessing the relationship between long-term treatment outcomes and the immediate response to adjuvant chemotherapy with capecitabine, we identified the group of patients with tumor regression ≥ 80%, who had the 7-year metastasis-free survival rates similar to those observed in patients with pathologic complete response. Such factors as the primary tumor size, regional tumor spread, receptor status of tumor tissue and the number of chemotherapy courses were found to have no impact on the frequency of hematogenous metastasis. Conclusion. The results obtained indicate that ≥ 80% tumor regression after neoadjuvanch chemotherapy including capecitabine can be considered as a predictive parameter for assessing metastasis-free survival in patients with operable breast cancer.