Treatment outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with dose-dense AC-T regimen for patients with stage II, III breast cancer

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the treatment outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with dose-dense AC-T (dd AC-T) regimen on stage II, III breast cancer (BC) patients, and to assess several clinical and subclinical factors associated with treatment response in these patients. Subject and method: This was a cross-sectional, prospective study with longitudinal follow-up, no control group. The study was conducted on 44 stage II, III BC patients receiving NAC with dd AC-T regimen at Department of General Oncology, Institute of Oncology, 108 Military Central Hospital from June 2018 to August 2022. Result: After receiving NAC, CEA, CA15-3 mean concentrations and tumor size decreased statistically (p<0.05). Regarding clinical response according to RECIST ver 1.1 criteria, the overall response rate (ORR) was 97.7%, in which the complete response (CR) rate accounted for 36.4%. All patients underwent surgery after receiving NAC. The rate of pathological complete response (pCR) was 31.8%. Several factors associated with treatment response include: Tumor size, skin involvement status, TNM stage, histopathology grade (p<0.05). Patients achieving clinical CR had a higher rate of pCR than the other group (p<0.001). Conclusion: NAC with ddAC-T regimen in treatment for stage II, III BC patients resulted in high clinical and pathological response. As a result, this is a good NAC option for these patients. Several factors associated with response include: Tumor size, skin involvement status, TNM stage, histology grade. Patients achieving clinical CR had a higher rate of pCR than the other group.