Survival outcomes seen with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the management of locally advanced inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) versus matched controls

Breast. 2023 Oct 14;72:103591. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2023.103591. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTInflammatory breast cancer (IBC) poses an ongoing challenge as rates of disease recurrence and mortality remain high compared to stage-matched controls. However, frontline therapy has evolved through the years, including the widespread use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) given the prognostic importance of pathologic complete response (pCR). Due to these sweeping changes, we need new data to assess current recurrence and survival outcomes for locally advanced IBC in the context of matched non-inflammatory controls. We conducted a retrospective analysis of institutional IBC data from 2010 to 2016 with the primary objective of comparing overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), and distant relapse-free survival (DRFS). We matched IBC patients to non-inflammatory controls based on age, receptor status, tumor grade, clinical stage, and receipt of prior NAC. Secondary objectives included assessing pCR rates and identifying prognostic factors. Among NAC recipients, we observed similar pCR rates (47.6 % vs. 49.4 %, p = 0.88) between IBC (n = 84) and matched non-IBC (n = 81) cohorts. However, we noted a significant worsening of OS (p = 0.0001), RFS (p = 0.0001), and DRFS (p = 0.001) in the IBC group. Specifically, 5-year OS in the IBC cohort was 58.9 % vs. 86.7 % for matched controls (p = 0.0003). Older age was a weak negative predictor for OS (HR 1.03, p = 0.001) and RFS (HR 1....
Source: Breast - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research