CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPLETE RESPONDERS TO COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY FOR ADVANCED BREAST-CANCER - A RETROSPECTIVE EORTC BREAST GROUP-STUDY

This retrospective study was undertaken to characterise the natural hi story of women achieving complete response (CR) following standard dos e combination chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC), and to analyse the significance of various patient, disease and treatment cha racteristics in determining survival and time to disease progression. 75 patients achieving a CR following standard dose combination chemoth erapy or combined chemoendocrine therapy for MBC have been studied. At a median follow-up of 6 years, 28% of patients are still alive, with 18 of 21 patients showing no evidence of disease. 15 (20%) patients, w ith median follow-up of 61 months from start of chemotherapy, have nev er experienced relapse. Median overall survival is 32.5 months. Multiv ariate analysis for survival identified inclusion of anthracyclines an d WHO performance status as significant predictors of good long-term o utcome. Concomitant hormonotherapy almost reached statistical signific ance in our multivariate analysis. Neither dominant site of disease no r disease-free interval were significant determinants of complete remi ssion. With conventional dose combination chemotherapy, approximately 20% of women with MBC who have achieved a clinical CR have been shown to be expected to remain alive and free of disease at 5 years. Inclusi on of an anthracycline appears to be an important determinant of durab ility of CR and patient survival. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd