Comparison of 10-Year Survival Between Patients With Axillary Pathologic Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Patients With Initially Negative Nodes in Breast Cancer.

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to determine whether patients with cytologically proven node-positive disease who achieved axillary pathologic complete response (ypN0) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) have similar survival outcomes to those with initially pathologically negative lymph nodes (pN0).

Methods: Patients with cytologically proven node-positive breast cancer who achieved ypN0 after NAC and those with pN0 between June 2005 and March 2012 in a large cancer hospital were reviewed. The relapse-free survival (RFS), distant-disease-free survival (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) of the 2 groups were calculated and compared.

Results: A total of 2285 patients, including 183 patients with ypN0 and 2102 patients with pN0, were included in this study. The median follow-up time for patients was 121 (range 2-182) months. The 10-year cumulative RFS was 79.7% for ypN0 patients and 90.2% for pN0 patients (log-rank P < .001). The 10-year cumulative DDFS was 81.4% for ypN0 patients and 92.2% for pN0 patients (log-rank P < .001). The 10-year cumulative OS was 86.3% for ypN0 patients and 94.0% for pN0 patients (log-rank P < .001). The multivariable Cox proportional hazards models showed that compared with pN0 patients, ypN0 patients had a 2.00-fold increase in the risk of recurrence (HR = 2.00, 95% CI, 1.33-3.01, P = .001), a 2.34-fold increase in the risk of distant recurrence (HR = 2.34, 95% CI, 1.52-3.62, P < .001) and a 2.10-fold increase in the risk of death (HR = 2.10, 95% CI, 1.25-3.53, P = .005).

Conclusion: Patients with axillary pCR showed inferior RFS, DDFS and OS to patients with pN0.