Effect of adjuvant radiotherapy in elderly patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Radiotherapy (RT) is of critical importance in the locoregional management of early breast cancer. Although RT is routinely used following breast conserving surgery (BCS), patients may occasionally be effectively treated with BCS alone. Currently, the selection of patients undergoing BCS who do not need breast irradiation is under investigation. With the advancement of personalized medicine, there is an increasing interest in reduction of aggressive treatments especially in older women. The primary objective of this study was to identify elderly patients who may forego breast irradiation after BCS without measurable consequences on local tumor growth and survival. METHODS: We analyzed 2384 early breast cancer patients aged 70 and older who were treated in 17 German certified breast cancer centers between 2001 and 2009. We compared RT versus no RT after guideline adherent (GA) BCS. The outcomes studied were breast cancer recurrence (RFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Low-risk patients were defined by luminal A, tumor size T1 or T2 and node-negative whereas higher-risk patients were defined by patients with G3 or T3/T4 or node-positive or other than Luminal A tumors. To test if there is a difference between two or more survival curves, we used the Gp family of tests of Harrington and Fleming. RESULTS: The median age was 77 yrs (mean 77.6±5.6 y) and the median observation time 46 mths (mean 48.9±24.8 mths). 950 (39.8%) patients were low-risk and 1434 (60.2%) were higher-risk. 1298 (54.4%) patients received GA BCS of which 85.0% (1103) received GA-RT and only 15% (195) did not. For low-risk patients with GA-BCS there were no significant differences in RFS (log rank p = 0.651) and in BCSS (p = 0.573) stratified by GA-RT. 5 years RFS in both groups were > 97%. For higher-risk patients with GA-BCS we found a significant difference (p<0.001) in RFS and tumor-associated OS stratified by GA-RT. The results remain the same after adjusting by adjuvant systemic treatment (AST) and comorbidity (ASA and NYHA). CONCLUSIONS: Patients aged 70 years and older suffering from low-risk early breast cancer with GA-BCS can avoid breast irradiation with <3% chance of relapse. In the case of higher-risk, breast irradiation should be used routinely following GA-BCS. As a side effect of these results, removing the entire breast of elderly low risk patients to spare them from breast irradiation seems to be not necessary.

B2 Prognostic Score: External Validation of a Clinical Decision-making Tool for Metastatic Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The B2 Prognostic Score (B2PS) is a clinical decision-making tool in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) that provides risk classification based on routine parameters. This study validates the B2PS in an independent series of MBC for the whole study group and for each intrinsic subtype. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed 641 metastasized patients, treated in 17 German certified breast cancer centers between 2001 and 2009. They were classified into low, intermediate, and high-risk groups according to B2PS. Overall survival (OS) curves for the various B2PS groups were compared with Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: According to the B2PS formula, 42.3% of patients were classified as low risk, 25.4% as intermediate risk and 32.3% as high risk. Intermediate- and high-risk patients had a statistically significant decreased OS compared with B2PS low-risk patients: (intermediate-risk: hazard ratio, 1.36; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.77; P = .023; high-risk: hazard ratio, 2.62; 95% confidence interval, 2.06-3.32; P < .001). The 5-year survival rates of low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients were 41.3%, 26.9%, and 10.2%, respectively. The distribution of B2PS risk groups varied significantly within the intrinsic subtypes. For each intrinsic subtype, B2PS gives an additional risk classification. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the reproducibility of the B2PS based on routinely assessable parameters and confirms its prognostic value in an independent entire cohort of MBC as well as in the separate intrinsic subtypes. It therefore can help in counseling and individualizing the therapeutic regimens of those patients.

Influences of adjuvant treatments in hormone receptor positive breast cancer on receptor conversion in recurrent breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: To examine influences on the receptor status of a local cohort of patients with recurrent breast cancer after primary diagnosis of hormone receptor positive breast cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 2078 female patients with primary hormone receptor positive breast cancer treated at the university hospital of Wuerzburg between 2000 and 2013. Main focus was on discordance in receptor status in recurrent disease. RESULTS: 196 patients with the primary diagnosis of hormone receptor positive breast cancer developed recurrent disease. 29.1% of patients revealed discordance in estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) or HER2 receptor (ER+ to -: 33.3%; PgR+ to -: 59.6%; HER2+ to -: 8.8%; HER2- to +: 17.5%). Aggressive tumor biology such as low grading or involvement of axillary lymph nodes showed increased risk of receptor conversion in relapse. Premenopausal patients with adjuvant application of tamoxifen and the application of chemotherapy had a significantly lower risk for the development of ER negative recurrent disease. Receptor changes to ER and PgR negativity in recurrent disease showed a trend to worse overall survival (OS). CONCLUSIONS: Histological analysis of recurrent disease is indispensable, since one-third of patients with hormone receptor positive breast cancer develop change in the receptor status.