The intervention studies of merely elevated serum tumor markers in advanced breast cancer ;posttreatment / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of early intervention of second-line treatment for advanced breast cancer patients who experienced elevated tumor marker without any evidence for progress on imaging after effective first-line treatment. Methods We recruited 42 metastatic breast cancer patients experiencing elevated tumor marker (CEA or CA-153) meanwhile, who had merely increased tumor markers again in regular review after effective first-line treatment. Patients were divided into two groups: 20 patients in treatment group were given second-line treatment (palliative chemotherapy); 22 patients in observation group insisted on regular follow-up without any changing of treatment strategy. We mainly evaluated PFSmarker , which was defined as the time between tumor markers increase and disease progression. Results CEA and CA-153 in patients with advanced breast cancer showed a tendency to decrease after first-line chemotherapy , which can be reduced again by second-line treatment while increased in regular review , and the observation group continued to rise until disease progressed. The PFSmarker in treatment group was 13.65 (6 ~ 24) months while that of the observation group was 8.18 (3 ~ 15) months. The difference of PFS between these two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05) and the median time to disease progression in treatment group was significantly longer than that in observation group. Conclusions Early intervention of second-line treatment for advanced breast cancer patients who only experienced elevated tumor marker after effective first-line treatment could slow down disease progression and improve the quality of life.