Risk stratification with Breast Cancer Index for late distant recurrence in patients with clinically low-risk (T1N0) estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer

Abstract

Patients with early-stage, hormone receptor–positive breast cancer with favorable clinicopathologic features are often not recommended for extended endocrine therapy. However, even patients with T1N0 disease remain at significant risk of distant recurrence up to 15 years following 5 years of endocrine therapy, highlighting the need for further stratification based on individualized risk to select patients for extended endocrine therapy. In this study, the incremental utility of genomic classification to stratify clinically low-risk patients for late distant recurrence was evaluated using the Breast Cancer Index. In 547 T1N0 patients from two cohorts that were disease-free at 5 years post-diagnosis, Breast Cancer Index categorized 32 and 36% from each cohort, respectively, with high risk of late distant recurrence that was associated with significantly reduced distant recurrence-free survival (86.7 and 89.6%) between years 5–15 and 5–10 compared to Breast Cancer Index low risk (95.4%; P = 0.0263 and 98.4%; P = 0.008). Findings support consideration of genomic classification in clinically low-risk hormone receptor–positive patients to identify candidates for extended endocrine therapy.