This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shannon, C. Articles by Smith, I.E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shannon, C. Articles by Smith, I.E. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Does Timing of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Early Breast Cancer Influence Survival?

From the Breast Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital; and the Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.

Address reprint requests to Ian E. Smith, MD, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Rd, London SW3 6JJ, United Kingdom; e-mail: ian.smith{at}rmh.nthames.nhs.uk.

Purpose: Theoretically, patients with early breast cancer might benefit from starting adjuvant chemotherapy soon after surgery, and this would have important clinical implications. We have addressed this question from a large, single-center database in which the majority of patients received anthracyclines.

Patients and Methods: A total of 1,161 patients from a prospectively maintained database treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital (London, United Kingdom), including 686 (59%) receiving anthracyclines, were retrospectively analyzed. The disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of the 368 patients starting chemotherapy within 21 days of surgery (group A) were compared with those of the 793 patients commencing chemotherapy 21 days after surgery (group B). Median follow-up time was 39 months (range, 12 to 147 months).

Results: No significant difference in 5-year DFS was found between the two groups overall (70% for group A v 72% for group B; P = .4) or in any subgroup. Likewise, there was no difference in 5-year OS (82% for group A v 84% for group B; P = .2) or when the interval to the start of chemotherapy was considered as a continuous variable (P = .4).

Conclusion: We have been unable to identify any significant survival benefit from starting adjuvant chemotherapy early after surgery, either overall or in any subset of patients.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Lohrisch, C. Paltiel, K. Gelmon, C. Speers, S. Taylor, J. Barnett, and I. A. Olivotto Impact on Survival of Time From Definitive Surgery to Initiation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Early-Stage Breast Cancer J. Clin. Oncol., October 20, 2006; 24(30): 4888 - 4894. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]