Manubriectomy made easy.

Bone metastasis is the most common form of distant metastasis encountered within the breast cancer population. Surgical resection of bone metastases is a curative treatment option in patients who present with an isolated solitary lesion and no other associated disease. This decision is typically made following a multidisciplinary discussion. Patients can also be put forward for surgical excision of bone metastases following inadequate response to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.  With tumours located in the manubrium of the sternum, surgery serves not only to resect the bone metastasis but to provide suitable chest wall reconstruction. The goal of this approach is to maintain the structural and bony stability of the chest wall as well as that of associated structures, e.g. rib insertion or articulation of the shoulder girdle. A widely utilized approach involves excising the area of metastasis within the manubrium followed by implanting a bone cement prosthesis. Titanium plates are used to fix the bone prosthesis to the sternal body inferiorly and to the remainder of the manubrium superiorly.  We present a step-by-step video tutorial for performing a lower hemi-manubriectomy in a patient with triple-negative breast cancer. Our goal is to describe the fundamental principles and surgical techniques used to perform this procedure followed by the postoperative outcomes.

Breast cryoablation for the palliative treatment of indolent subtype of multicentric triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cryoablation for palliative and curative treatment of breast cancer has been performed for decades. Although there is a recent resurgence of interest in breast cryoablation with curative intent for unifocal, hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer, this report highlights the essential role that cryoablation can play in the palliative treatment of multicentric oestrogen and progesterone receptor-negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (triple-negative) breast cancer, meeting the select pretreatment objectives such as breast or nipple pain relief and prevention of tumour erosion through the skin or nipple in patients who have failed or cannot tolerate the standard of care treatment.

Triple-Negative or Close-to-Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Presenting as a Thick-Walled Cystic Lesion.

Clinical and pathologic characteristics of the invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) presenting as a thick-walled breast cyst are little known. Three female patients were included in this report. A palpable, nontender breast lump was found in all cases. While mammography showed a hyperdense mass, ultrasonography demonstrated a thick-walled cystic mass. Magnetic resonance imaging clearly showed the cystic breast lesions with ring-like or irregular rim enhancement. A grade III IDC was confirmed in all cases. All IDCs but one were estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative, with merely weak progesterone receptor positivity (5%) in one case. All cases underwent surgical management first and postoperative chemotherapy. Breast malignancy presenting as a thick-walled cystic mass could be a highly aggressive IDC, even triple-negative breast cancer. It is imperative for breast cancer-related practitioners to identify the potentially malignant cystic lesions timely and adopt appropriate management.

Breast-conserving surgery is not associated with increased local recurrence in patients with early-stage node-negative triple-negative breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is routinely used for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Upfront breast-conserving therapy (BCT) consisting of breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) has been shown to be associated with improved outcome in patients with early TNBC as compared to mastectomy. METHODS: We identified 2632 patients with early TNBC from the German Breast Group meta-database. Patients with cT1-2 cN0 and ypN0, available surgery and follow-up data were enrolled. Data of 1074 patients from 8 prospective NACT trials were available. Endpoints of interest were locoregional recurrence as first site of relapse (LRR), disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). We performed univariate and multivariate Fine-Gray analysis and Cox regression models. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 64 months, there were 94 (8.8%) locoregional events as first site of relapse. Absence of pathologic complete response (pCR) was associated with increased LRR upon uni- and multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.28; p < 0.001 and HR = 2.22; p = 0.001). Type of surgery was not associated with LRR. Patients in the BCS-group had better DFS and OS (DFS: HR = 0.47; p < 0.001 and OS: HR = 0.40; p < 0.001). BCS was associated with improved DFS and OS upon multivariate analysis (DFS: HR = 0.51; p < 0.001; and OS HR = 0.43; p < 0.001), whereas absence of pCR was associated with worse DFS and OS (DFS: HR = 2.43; p < 0.001; and OS: HR = 3.15; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective analysis of patients with early stage node-negative TNBC treated with NACT, BCS was not associated with an increased risk of LRR but with superior DFS and OS.

Estimating the risk and benefit of radiation therapy in (y)pN1 stage breast cancer patients: A Bayesian network model incorporating expert knowledge (KROG 22-13).

BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the risk and benefit of (y)pN1 breast cancer patients in a Bayesian network model. METHOD: We developed a Bayesian network (BN) model comprising three parts: pretreatment, intervention, and risk/benefit. The pretreatment part consisted of clinical information from a tertiary medical center. The intervention part regarded the field of radiotherapy. The risk/benefit component encompasses radiotherapy (RT)-related side effects and effectiveness, including factors such as recurrence, cardiac toxicity, lymphedema, and radiation pneumonitis. These factors were evaluated in terms of disability weights and probabilities from a nationwide expert survey. The overall disease burden (ODB) was calculated as the sum of the probability multiplied by the disability weight. A higher value of ODB indicates a greater disease burden for the patient. RESULTS: Among the 58 participants, a BN model utilizing discretization and clustering techniques revealed five distinct clusters. Overall, factors associated with breast reconstruction and RT exhibited high discrepancies (24-34 %), while RT-related side effects demonstrated low discrepancies (3-11 %) among the experts. When incorporating recurrence and RT-related side effects, the mean ODB of (y)pN1 patients was 0.258 (range, 0.244-0.337), with a higher tendency observed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) or mastectomy cases. The ODB for TNBC patients undergoing mastectomy without postmastectomy radiotherapy was 0.327, whereas for non-TNBC patients undergoing breast conserving surgery with RT, the disease burden was 0.251. There was an increasing trend in ODB as the field of RT increased. CONCLUSION: We developed a Bayesian network model based on an expert survey, which helps to understand treatment patterns and enables precise estimations of RT-related risk and benefit in (y)pN1 patients.

Does Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Clinical T1-T2 N0 Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Increase the Extent of Axillary Surgery?

BACKGROUND: Current management strategies for early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) include upfront surgery to determine pathologic stage to guide chemotherapy recommendations, or neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) to de-escalate surgery, elucidate tumor response, and determine the role of adjuvant chemotherapy. However, patients who receive NAC with residual pathological nodal (pN) involvement require axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) as they are Z11/AMAROS ineligible. We aimed to evaluate the impact of NAC compared with upfront surgery on pN status and ALND rates in cT1-2N0 TNBC. METHODS: The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was queried for women with operable cT1-2N0 TNBC from 2014 to 2019. Demographic, clinicopathologic, and treatment data were collected. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to assess the odds of pN+ disease and undergoing ALND. RESULTS: Overall, 55,624 women were included: 26.9% (n = 14,942) underwent NAC and 73.1% (n = 40,682) underwent upfront surgery. The NAC cohort was younger (mean age 52.9 vs. 61.3 years; p < 0.001) with more cT2 tumors (71.6% vs. 31.0%; p < 0.001), and had lower ALND rates (4.3% vs. 5.5%; p < 0.001). The upfront surgery cohort was more likely to have one to three pathologically positive nodes (12.1% vs. 6.5%; odds ratio [OR] 2.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.17-2.58; p < 0.001) but there was no difference in the likelihood of ALND (OR 1.1, 95% CI 0.99-1.24; p = 0.08). CONCLUSION: Patients who underwent upfront surgery were more likely to be pN+; however, ALND rates were similar between the two cohorts. Thus, the use of NAC does not result in a higher odds of ALND and the decision for NAC should be individualized and based on modern guidelines and systemic therapy benefits.

Comparison of assessment of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status in triple-negative breast cancer biopsies and surgical specimens.

AIMS: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is important for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies but may vary between different immunohistochemical assays, scorings and the type of specimen used for analysis. METHODS: We compared the analytical concordance of three clinically relevant PD-L1 assays (VENTANA SP142, VENTANA SP263 and DAKO 22C3 pharmDx) assessing immune cell score (IC), tumour proportion score and combined positive score (CPS) in preoperative biopsies and resection specimens of primary TNBC. PD-L1 expression was scored on virtual whole slide images and compared with expression data from corresponding surgical specimens. RESULTS: The mean PD-L1 positivity in TNBC biopsies defined as IC ≥1% and CPS ≥1 ranged between 11% and 61% with the lowest positivity for SP142 and highest for SP263. The corresponding surgical specimens showed overall higher positivity rates (53%-75%). When comparing biopsies with surgical specimens, the agreement for PD-L1 positivity with SP263 and 22C3 at IC score ≥1% and CPS ≥1 was fair (kappa 0.47-0.52) and poor for SP142 (kappa 0.15-0.19). Using CPS ≥10 cut-off, the agreement for SP263 was excellent (kappa 0.751) but poor for 22C3 (kappa 0.261). Spearman correlation coefficients ranged between 0.489 and 0.75 indicating a generally moderate to strong correlation between biopsies and surgical specimens for all assays and scores. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate high accordance between biopsies and surgical specimens for SP263 and 22C3 scoring but less for SP142. Generally, biopsies are suitable for PD-L1 testing in TNBC but the appropriate assay, scoring and cut-off must be considered.

Axillary Nodal Metastases Conversion and Perioperative Complications with Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is known to portend a worse prognosis compared with same-stage, hormone receptor-positive disease. However, with the recent change in practice to include pembrolizumab in neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for TNBC, an increase in pathologic complete responses (pCRs) has been reported. The perioperative repercussions of adding pembrolizumab to standard NAC regimens for TNBC are currently unknown. We aimed to explore the perioperative implications of adding pembrolizumab to standard NAC regimens for non-metastatic TNBC. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of the perioperative outcomes in patients with non-metastatic TNBC treated with pembrolizumab-NAC from January 2018 to October 2022 conducted at a high-volume cancer center. Patient demographics, comorbidities, clinical and pathological staging, NAC treatment regimen, initiation, and completion, as well as date of surgery and postoperative complications were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 87 patients, 67.8% had an overall pCR and 86% had an axillary pCR; 37.2% of cN+ patients were spared from axillary lymph node dissection. However, 24.1% of patients experienced surgical complications, 9% of patients were receiving steroids at the time of breast surgery secondary to adverse effects of pembrolizumab-NAC, and 7% underwent a change in the initial surgical plan such as omission of reconstruction. CONCLUSION: Pembrolizumab-NAC has not only significant oncologic benefit but also noteworthy perioperative implications in the surgical management of TNBC.

Comparison of cisplatin-based versus standard preoperative chemotherapy in patients with operable triple-negative breast cancer: propensity score matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis.

PURPOSE: The efficacy of carboplatin is non-equivalent to that of cisplatin (CDDP) for various tumor types in curative settings. However, the role of CDDP in operable triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients remains unknown. We conducted a multicenter observational study to examine the effects of CDDP added to preoperative chemotherapy in patients with TNBC. METHODS: This retrospective study consecutively included previously untreated patients with stage I-III TNBC treated with preoperative chemotherapy with or without CDDP. The primary endpoint was distant disease-free survival (DDFS). Propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were used to minimize confounding biases in comparisons between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of 138 patients were enrolled in the study. Of these, 52 were in the CDDP group and 86 in the non-CDDP group. DDFS was significantly better in the CDDP group than in the non-CDDP group (unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.127 and p < 0.001, PSM HR 0.141 and p < 0.003, IPTW HR 0.123 and p = < 0.001). Furthermore, among the patients with residual cancer burden (RCB) class II/III, DDFS was better in the CDDP group than in the non-CDDP group (unadjusted HR 0.192 and p = 0.013, PSM HR 0.237 and p = 0.051, IPTW HR 0.124 and p = 0.059). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that CDDP-containing regimens achieved favorable prognoses in patients with operable TNBC, especially for the RCB class II/III population. Confirmative studies are warranted to elucidate the role of CDDP in TNBC treatment.

MRI-based radiomics approach for the prediction of recurrence-free survival in triple-negative breast cancer after breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy.

To explore the value of a radiomics signature and develop a nomogram combined with a radiomics signature and clinical factors for predicting recurrence-free survival in triple-negative breast cancer patients. We enrolled 151 patients from the cancer imaging archive who underwent preoperative contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. They were assigned to training, validation and external validation cohorts. Image features with coefficients not equal to zero in the 10-fold cross-validation were selected to generate a radiomics signature. Based on the optimal cutoff value of the radiomics signature determined by maximally selected log-rank statistics, patients were stratified into high- and low-risk groups in the training and validation cohorts. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed for both groups. Kaplan-Meier survival distributions in these groups were compared using log-rank tests. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to construct clinical and combined models. Concordance index was used to assess the predictive performance of the 3 models. Calibration of the combined model was assessed using calibration curves. Four image features were selected to generate the radiomics signature. The Kaplan-Meier survival distributions of patients in the 2 groups were significantly different in the training (P < .001) and validation cohorts (P = .001). The C-indices of the radiomics model, clinical model, and combined model in the training and validation cohorts were 0.772, 0.700, 0.878, and 0.744, 0.574, 0.777, respectively. The C-indices of the radiomics model, clinical model, and combined model in the external validation cohort were 0.778, 0.733, 0.822, respectively. The calibration curves of the combined model showed good calibration. The radiomics signature can predict recurrence-free survival of patients with triple-negative breast cancer and improve the predictive performance of the clinical model.

Efficacy of breast reconstruction for N2-3M0 stage female breast cancer on breast cancer-specific survival: A population-based propensity score analysis.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of breast reconstruction for patients with N2-3M0 stage female breast cancer (FBC) remained unclear due to the lack of randomized clinical trials. This retrospective study aimed to explore the efficacy of breast reconstruction for patients with N2-3M0 stage FBC. METHODS: Two thousand five hundred forty-five subjects with FBC staged by N2-3M0 from 2010 to 2016 were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Generalized boosted model (GBM) and propensity score matching (PSM) analyses and multivariable Cox analyses were employed to assess the clinical prognostic effect of postmastectomy reconstruction for patients with N2-3M0 stage FBC in breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). RESULTS: Totally, 1784 candidates underwent mastectomy alone (mastectomy group), and 761 candidates underwent postmastectomy reconstruction (PMbR group), with 418 breast-specific deaths after a median follow-up time of 57 months (ranging from 7 to 227 months). BCSS in the mastectomy group showed no statistical difference from that in the PMbR group in the PSM cohort (HR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.70-1.25, p = 0.400) and GBM cohort (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.56-1.01, p = 0.057). In the multivariate analyses, there was no difference in the effect of PMbR and mastectomy on BCSS in the original cohort (HR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.66-1.09, p = 0.197), PSM cohort (HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.64-1.15, p = 0.310), and GBM cohort (HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.61-1.17, p = 0.298). Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was a detrimental factor affecting BCSS for patients in the PMbR group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that PMbR is an oncologically safe surgical treatment and can be widely recommended in clinics for females with non-TNBC staged by T0-3N2-3M0.

The effect of adjuvant radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in elderly women with T1-2N0 estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) following breast-conserving surgery (BCS) results in better survival among women ≥ 70 years with T1-2N0 estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we included patients who met the inclusion criteria between 2010 and 2015 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. Univariate and Multivariate Cox proportional analysis were used to identify the risk factors for overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to compare the prognosis of patients with or without adjuvant RT. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to perform a 1:1 matched case-control analysis. RESULTS: A total of 4201 women were included in this study, with a median follow-up time of 64 months (range: 0-107 months). Of these patients, 2811 (66.9%) received adjuvant RT, while 1390 (33.1%) did not. Patients who did not receive adjuvant RT were more likely to be aged ≥ 80 years old, have a single marital status, larger tumors, and HER2-positive status (p < 0.05). Multivariate Cox proportional analysis indicated that receiving adjuvant RT was an independent factor associated with better OS and BCSS before and after PSM (P < 0.001). The survival curves before and after PSM showed that patients achieved an improved OS and BCSS from adjuvant RT (P < 0.005). In the subgroup analysis, there was no survival benefit trend from adjuvant RT in patients who were ≥ 80 years, or those with T1mic+T1a, T1b tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The use of RT following BCS in older women with T1-2N0 ER-negative breast cancer is associated with improve OS and BCSS. However, the potential benefit may be relatively limited for patients ≥ 80 years, or those with T1mic+T1a, T1b tumors.

Effect of surgical treatment on patients with stage T3 or T4 triple-negative breast cancer: a SEER-based retrospective observational study.

Background: The use of surgery is controversial in patients with stage T3 or T4 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We aimed to explore the effect of surgical treatment on overall survival (OS) of these patients. Methods: A total of 2,041 patients were selected and divided into the surgical and non-surgical groups based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 2010 to 2018. Propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were applied to balance covariates between different groups. The OS of the two groups were assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: A total of 2,041 patients were included in the study. After PSM and IPTW, baseline characteristics of the matched variables were fully balanced. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the median survival time and OS of TNBC patients with stage T3 or T4 in the surgical group were significantly improved compared with those in the non-surgical group. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that surgery was a protective factor for prognosis. Conclusion: Our study found that surgery prolonged the median survival and improved OS compared with the non-surgical group of TNBC patients with stage T3 or T4.

Extent of surgical procedure in triple negative breast carcinomas.

INTRODUCTION: Triple negative breast carcinomas (TNBC) account for approximately 15-20% of all breast carcinomas. This subtype is characterised by an unfavourable prognosis with early locoregional recurrence a metastases. Only few studies have focused on the impact of local surgery on the overall therapeutic outcome. However, decisions are difficult to make in the case of TNBC, and no particular molecular subtype or marker exists that would make the decision-making process easier. The aim of our retrospective study was to analyse the TNBC surgical management outcomes at EUC Clinic in Zlin. METHODS: 440 women with breast carcinoma were operated on at EUC Clinic from 2014 to 2016, including 29 patients with TNBC; bilateral carcinoma was present in one case. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) was indicated in 6 cases. The tumour centre was marked with a clip. The extent of surgery depended on the residual size of the tumour. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was indicated in clinically negative lymph nodes; further management followed the Z0011 study if the biopsy was positive. Axillary lymph node dissection was performed after NAC. In all cases, surgery was followed by systemic chemotherapy, and by radiotherapy in the case of breast-conserving procedures. RESULTS: The group included 29 women and one patient with bilateral carcinoma, i.e. 30 cases of TNBC. Mean age was 57 years and median age was 55.5 years. Mean follow-up was 62.9 months, with the median of 69.9 month. NAC was indicated in 6 patients; complete pathological response was achieved in one case. NAC was followed by mastectomy in 5 cases including a bilateral procedure in one case, and by breast-conserving surgery in one case. Axillary dissection was performed in all cases. Breast-conserving surgery and sentinel node biopsy predominated in the group (16 cases). Local recurrence was observed in 4 cases, 2 times as an isolated local recurrence after one year and 2 times as part of generalization, always after mastectomy. Six patients died of generalized disease. No regional recurrence was observed. CONCLUSION: TNBC is characterised by a worse prognosis and a higher rate of local recurrence. As confirmed by our study, the results of breast-conserving surgery can be comparable to those of radical procedures, and thus radical surgery should be indicated prudently.

The outcome of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the current trend of surgical treatment in young women with breast cancer: A multicenter real-world study (CSBrS-012).

Background and objectives: The relationship between age and the outcome of breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) remains controversial, and little is known about the choice of surgical treatment for young patients. In this multicenter real-world study, we sought to analyze the outcome of NAC as well as the current status and trend of surgical decision-making after NAC in young breast cancer patients. Methods: The medical records of patients from 20 hospitals in different regions of China were collected retrospectively. The study population included females diagnosed with cT1-4N0-3M0 breast cancer who received NAC from January 2010 to December 2020. Results: A total of 9,643 eligible patients were included, 1,945 (20.2%) of whom were ≤40 years old. Young patients tend to have a higher tumor stage and a higher proportion of Luminal B and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors compared with the >40-year-old group. The breast pathological complete response (pCR) rate in the young group was 20.3%, and Luminal B tumor was more likely to obtain pCR in young patients. The implementation rate of breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and breast reconstruction surgery was higher in young patients and tended to increase over time. In different regions of China, there were great differences in the choice of surgical treatment after NAC among young patients. Conclusion: Breast cancer in young women has unique clinical characteristics, but age does not affect the overall pCR rate. In China, the BCS rate after NAC is increasing over time but is still at a low level.

Programmed death ligand 1-positive immune cells in primary tumor or metastatic axillary lymph nodes can predict prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer even when present at < 1% in the tumor region.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of pre-operative systemic treatment (PST) combined with immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been recognized recently as being independent of the degree of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) positivity of infiltrating immune cells, especially for patients with axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM). METHODS: TNBC patients with ALNM were treated surgically between 2002 and 2016 in our facility (n = 109), of whom 38 received PST before resection. The presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) expressing CD3, CD8, CD68, PD-L1 (detected by antibody SP142) and FOXP3 at primary and metastatic LN sites was quantified. RESULTS: The size of invasive tumor and the number of metastatic axillary LN were confirmed as prognostic markers. The numbers of both CD8+ and FOXP3+ TILs at primary sites were also recognized as prognostic markers, especially for overall survival (OS) (CD8, p = 0.026; FOXP3, p < 0.001). The presence of CD8+, FOXP3+ and PD-L1+ cells was better maintained in LN after PST and may contribute to improved antitumor immunity. Provided they were present as clusters of ≥ 70 positive cells, even < 1% of immune cells expressing PD-L1 at primary sites predicted a more favorable prognosis for both disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.004) and OS (p = 0.020). This was the case not only for 30 matched surgical patients, but also in all 71 surgical only patients (DFS: p < 0.001 and OS: p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: PD-L1+ , CD8+ or FOXP3+ immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) at both primary and metastatic sites are significant on prognosis, which could be a clue to expect the potential for better responses to the combination of chemotherapy and ICI, especially for patients with ALNM.

Survival Outcomes in Women with Unilateral, Triple-Negative, Breast Cancer Correlated with Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy.

BACKGROUND: Despite increased utilization of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), there is insufficient evidence that it improves survival in average-risk women with unilateral breast cancer. CPM may be of heightened interest to patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) because these patients are more likely to have BRCA1 mutation-associated disease and are not candidates for the chemoprevention benefits of adjuvant endocrine therapy. METHODS: Survival and recurrence outcomes were evaluated for all TNBC patients from a multi-institutional database (1999-2018) at two academic cancer programs in two metropolitan cities of the Northeast and Midwest. Median follow-up time was 3.7 years. RESULTS: Seven hundred and nighty six TNBC patients were evaluated and 15.45% underwent CPM. Women undergoing CPM were more likely to be white (p < 0.001), younger (p < 0.001), and underwent genetic testing (p < 0.001). A borderline survival benefit was observed for TNBC patients undergoing CPM (5-year overall survival 95.1% vs. 85.0%; p = 0.05). There was no difference in survival when BRCA mutation carriers were excluded (5-year overall survival 94.1% vs. 85.2%; p = 0.12). For BRCA mutation carriers, a numeric trend was observed for improved survival for patients undergoing CPM (5-year overall survival 97.2% vs. 84.1%; p = 0.35). Among patients not undergoing CPM, the rate of developing a new primary breast cancer was 2.2% (15/673). Among these 15 patients, 20% (3/15) were known BRCA mutation carriers. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate no survival benefit for TNBC patients without BRCA1/2 mutations undergoing CPM.

Preoperative Systemic Therapy for Breast Cancer.

The indications for preoperative/neoadjuvant systemic therapy in breast cancer have changed over the past few years. In this article, the authors review the current data for use of neoadjuvant therapy in inoperable and operable settings. The evolution of various neoadjuvant regimens used in triple-negative breast cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressing/gene-amplified (HER2+) tumors, and hormone receptor positive breast cancer is discussed as well as the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in tailoring adjuvant treatment.