Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Appears to have No Effect on Short-Term Outcomes in Breast Cancer Surgery
Take-Home Message:
Receiving chemotherapy within 30 days before breast cancer surgery did not lead to more postoperative complications. For their patients who get chemotherapy prior to their breast cancer surgery, surgeons do not need to delay their patients’ surgeries over 1 month.
Summary
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Appears to have No Effect on Short-Term Outcomes in Breast Cancer Surgery
Authors: Chase Doyle, reporting on an Abstract presented by Dr. Erin Cordeiro and colleagues
Source: ASCO Post December 10, 2015, Volume 6, Issue 22, Page 16.
On the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium Abstract Presentation of Cordeiro E, Arnaout A and Cil, T.
Data from about 68,000 patients collected from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) from patients who underwent surgery for invasive breast cancer between 2005- 2012 was analyzed. About 5% of these patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy before breast cancer surgery), and many of these neoadjuvant chemotherapy patients subsequently had bilateral procedures. When comparing patients with similar backgrounds (medical conditions, age, cigarette use, body mass index, etc), Dr Erin Cordeiro, noted “There was no difference in the overall 30-day postoperative complication rate between patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy vs not.” Factors that did make a difference in postoperative complications were previously recognized and included cigarette use, obesity, bleeding disorders, long operative time and high American Society of Anesthesiologists classification.
With the increased use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy amongst breast cancer patients due to its benefit for patients with Her2 positive breast cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, (National Cancer Data showing 14% of invasive breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 2006 and 20% in 2011), this study can give surgeons and patients confidence to operate within the thirty day period after the patient’s last chemotherapy treatment without the compromise of increased complications.