Substantial Reduction in Adjuvant Chemotherapy With the Use of the 21-Gene Test to Manage Early Breast Cancer in a Public Hospital in Brazil.

PURPOSE: We evaluated the impact of 21-gene test results on treatment decisions for patients with early-stage breast cancer treated under the public health care system in Brazil, Sistema Único de Saúde. METHODS: Eligible patients treated at Hospital Pérola Byington and Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo in Brazil were required to have the following characteristics: postsurgery with hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor 2-negative, node-negative and node-positive, and T1/T2 breast cancer and patients with these characteristics were candidates for adjuvant systemic therapy. Treatment recommendations, chemotherapy plus hormonal therapy (CT + HT) or HT alone, were captured before and after 21-gene test results. RESULTS: From August 2018 to April 2019, 179 women were enrolled. The mean age was 58 years (29-86 years), 135 (76%) were postmenopausal, and 58 (32%) had node-positive breast cancer. Most patients (61%) had a tumor > 2 cm, including 7% with tumors > 4 cm. Using Recurrence Score (RS) result cut points on the basis of the TAILORx trial, 40 (22%) had RS 0-10, 91 (51%) had RS 11-25, and 48 (27%) had RS 26-100. Before 21-gene testing, 162 of 179 (91%) patients were recommended for CT. After testing, 117 of 179 patients (65%) had changes in CT recommendation: 112 (63%) who were initially recommended CT received HT alone and five (3%) who were initially recommended HT alone received CT + HT. After 21-gene testing, 99% of physicians reported strong confidence in their treatment recommendations. CONCLUSION: The change in clinical practice at these public hospitals was greater than expected: 66% of initial treatment recommendations were changed to omit CT with 21-gene test results. Clinicopathologic features did not correlate well with 21-gene test results and did not adequately identify those most likely to benefit from CT.

Appearance of breast masses on sonoelastography with special focus on the diagnosis of fibroadenomas.

The aim of this study was to show and correlate the imaging features of breast masses, especially fibroadenomas, using sonoelastography. Two hundred thirty-five patients with 302 breast lesions referred for core needle biopsy participated in the study. All lesions appearing as solid masses on conventional US were included. Out of the included lesions (270), 115 (42.6%) corresponded to histologically confirmed fibroadenomas and 155 (57.4%) to lesions with histologically confirmed diagnoses other than fibroadenomas. These were further subdivided into fibrocystic changes, lesions with low malignancy potential, and malignant lesions. Fibroadenomas were also divided according to histological presentation into three subgroups to allow comparative study based on elastographic scores. All lesions were classified using a four-point scoring system based on ultrasound elastography imaging characteristics. Different presentations were observed for elastographic scores according to histological presentation of fibroadenomas, whereby fibroadenomas with benign characteristics tended to have elastographic classification similar to fibrocystic changes, and complex and hypercellular fibroadenomas had classifications similar to harder lesions. Fibroadenomas are generally classified as category 3 in the BI-RADS lexicon and are the most commonly found lesions in breast biopsies. Sonoelastography can provide additional information to conventional studies and be used as an auxiliary tool in assessing these masses in clinical practice.