title: [Feasibility of breast conservation surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) and the feasibility of conservative breast surgery after reducing the size of a primary tumor by NCT in patients with operable breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with stage IIB and IIIA breast cancer underwent NCT including epirubicin 60 mg/m(2) by intravenous injection on day 1 and paclitaxel 150 mg/m(2) by 3-hour continuous infusion on day 2 with 21 days as a cycle from July 2001 to April 2003. All patients received 3 - 4 cycles of NCT. Breast conservation treatment or modified mastectomy was performed after the tumor was reduced to less than 3 cm in diameter. The nonresponders received modified mastectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall response rate (ORR) was 93% (28/30) for the primary tumors of breast, Fifteen patients (50%) obtained clinical complete response (cCR), including 7 cases (23%) with pathologic complete response (pCR). Thirteen cases (43%) achieved clinical partial response (cPR), and 2 (7%) no change (NC). No case showed progression of disease. Twenty-six (87%) cases were downstaged according to the TNM system classification. The median initial tumor size was 4 cm (3 - 10 cm) before NCT and was reduced to 0.8 cm (0 - 6 cm) after NCT. All 30 patients received operation. Eighteen (60%) of them were candidates for breast conserving therapy, and actually only 11 (37%) selected such surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An effective treatment for operable breast cancer, NCT with epirubicin plus paclitaxel results in significant downstaging or eliminating of primary tumors in breast cancer, thus expanding the indication of breast conservation therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, People's Hospital, Peking University, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: De-qi
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xin-min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Fu-zhong
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Ying-min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong-jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D015251:Epirubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D015251:Epirubicin; D017239:Paclitaxel