Long-term Results After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: A Single-center Experience

Abstract

Background/Aim: We evaluated the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in reducing locally-advanced breast cancer (LABC) size, thus improving breast-conserving surgery (BCS) rates, as well as its long-term outcome. Patients and Methods: We analyzed 59 patients treated between 1999-2017 with NACT and subsequent surgery for LABC. Results: We observed a tumor size reduction in 95% of cases, resulting in downstaging in 62.7%. The average tumor shrinkage was 49%. Women with a reduction in tumor size >50% after NACT had better 10-year OS rates than women with a reduction ≤50% (p=0.025). NACT allowed to perform BCS in 44% cases, whereas the remaining 56% cases underwent mastectomy. Overall, we observed recurrences in 37.2% patients. Recurrence rates after BCS and mastectomy were 30.7% (6 loco-regional and 2 distant cases) and 42.4% (5 loco-regional and 9 distant cases), respectively (p=0.07). Conclusion: NACT confirmed its effectiveness in reducing mastectomy rates by approximately 50%, without increasing the risk of local or distant recurrences.