Analysis of the factors influencing the pathological complete remission and prognosis of young breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Objective To explore the clinicopathological factors that influence the prognosis and pathological complete response (PCR) of young breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods From January 2007 to December 2017, 87 cases of female breast cancer patients aged ≤40 who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and were admitted to the breast surgery department of Qingdao 8th people′s hospital were analyzed retrospectively.According to the pathological results, , the patients were divided into three groups: 30 in the PCR group and 57 in the non PCR group. To compare the correlation between the composition of PCR, recurrence/metastasis and death and clinicopathological characteristics, and to analyze the relationship between PCR and disease-free survival(DFS) and overall survival(OS). Results After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 30 of the 87 patients reached to PCR (34.5%). The proportion of PCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in young breast cancer is related to estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), preoperative lymph node status, Ki67 level and molecular typing( χ2 values were 3.592, 4.614, 8.373, 4.251 and 14.569, respectively, P values were 0.047, 0.032, 0.039, 0.039 and 0.006, respectively; the proportion of recurrence and metastasis patients with Er, PR and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 2, HER-2, tumor size and lymph node status were correlated (χ2 values were 8.778, 6.243, 9.413, 14.910, 23.074, P values were 0.003, 0.013, 0.009, 0.002, < 0.001, respectively); the proportion of dead patients was correlated with Er, PR, HER-2, grade, tumor size and lymph node status (χ2 values were 6.686, 4.340, 11.874, 15.707, 12.428, 26.564, respectively, P values were 0.010, 0.037, 0.003, < 0.001, 0.006, < 0.001). Er, PR, HER-2, tumor size, preoperative lymph node status and molecular typing were correlated with DFS (HR(95%CI) was 0.53 (0.31-0.93), 2.12 (1.21-3.64), 0.46 (0.27-0.77), 1.91 (1.40-2.62), 2.22 (1.55-3.20), 1.21 (0.95-1.55), all P< 0.05), while er, PR, HER-2, classification, tumor size and preoperative lymph node status were closely correlated with OS (HR(95%CI was 0.47 (0.23-0.98), 2.14 (1.03-4.44), 0.37 (0.19-0.76), 2.90 (1.45-5.79), 1.86 (1.24-2.79) and 2.22 (1.39-3.56), respectively (all P < 0.05)). Among the 33 patients with recurrence and metastasis, 5 (16.7%)patients had PCR, while the remaining 28 (49.1%)patients had not reached PCR, accounting for 49.1% (28/57) of all the non PCR patients. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.019). Among the 21 patients who died, there were 2 patients with PCR, accounting for 6.7% (2/30) of all the patients with PCR; the remaining 19 patients did not reach PCR, accounting for 33.3% (19/57) of all the patients without PCR. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant(P= 0.026). Conclusion The proportion of PCR, DFS and OS in young breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were affected by many clinicopathological factors. Key words: Young breast cancer; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; Pathological complete remission rate; Disease-free survival; Overall survival