Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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Changes to This Summary (10/21/2016)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Early/Localized/Operable Breast Cancer

Added text to state that a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer trial reported that women with a centrally or medially located primary tumor with or without axillary node involvement, or an externally located tumor with axillary involvement, were randomly assigned to whole-breast or thoracic-wall irradiation in addition to regional nodal irradiation or not. Statistical data about the study population and the varying overall and disease-free survival outcomes per random assignment were included (cited Poortmans et al. as reference 51 and level of evidence 1iiA).

Revised text to state that in two unblinded studies, TEXT and SOFT, exemestane was also compared with tamoxifen in 4,690 premenopausal women who underwent ovarian ablation (cited level of evidence 1iDii). Added statistics to support that there was no difference in overall survival and cited level of evidence 1iiA. Also added observations from a follow-up report on the differences in quality-of-life for the exemestane-ovarian suppression group versus the tamoxifen-ovarian suppression group, noting that the differences were all significant at P <.001 and occurred in patients who did and did not receive chemotherapy (cited Bernhard et al. as reference 140 and level of evidence 1iC).

Metastatic Breast Cancer

Added text to include CDK4/6 inhibitors to the targeted therapies that are treatment options for metastatic breast cancer.

Revised text to state that in the final analysis of the Paloma3 trial, a median progression-free survival of 9.5 months on the palbociclib-fulvestrant arm versus 4.6 months on the placebo-fulvestrant arm was shown (cited Cristofanilli et al. as reference 34 and level of evidence 1iC). Also revised the statistic about uncommon febrile neurtopenia that was found in both groups. Added that tumor PIK3CA mutational status did not significantly affect the magnitude of benefit associated with fulvestrant plus palbociclib.

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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