Efficacy Of Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin-based Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy In Breast Cancer: A Single Center Experience.

PURPOSE Neoadjuvant chemotherapy using a doxorubicin-based regimen has recently become a common therapeutic option for operable breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of polyethylene glycol-coated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD)-based chemotherapy for breast cancer in neoadjuvant settings. METHODS A total of 227 female operable breast cancer patients who were diagnosed between January 2009 and December 2017 and completed neoadjuvant PLD-based chemotherapy were retrospectively included. The logistic regression analysis was used to determine the associations between pathologic complete response (pCR) and preoperative clinicopathological characteristics. The breast cancer recurrence rate was estimated using the survival analysis. RESULTS A higher pCR rate was found in the patients with clinically negative lymph nodes and HER2-enriched patients. Moreover, the patients who achieved pCR also had a better prognosis outcome. A recurrence rate of 11.5% (n=26) was observed during a median follow-up of 11.63 months, and the recurrence rate of the pCR group (2.04%; 95% CI = 0.29-13.62) was lower than the non-pCR group (14.62%; 95% CI = 10.12-20.87). Higher histological grade was also associated high pCR rate (52.0% vs 40.0%). CONCLUSION The use of PLD-containing chemotherapeutics in neoadjuvant settings might have benefits for non-metastatic operable breast cancer in Taiwanese females.