Adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer: do the St Gallen recommendations influence clinical practice? Results from the NORA study.
BACKGROUND
The NORA study is a prospective longitudinal cohort study aiming at investigating treatment in patients with early breast cancer. Here, we present the impact of the St Gallen recommendations on clinical practice.


METHODS
We compared adjuvant strategies in patients enrolled in 2000-2002 to those in 2003-2004 to verify the impact of the 2003 St Gallen recommendations.


RESULTS
The use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) doubled: 65/629 patients (10.3%) vs 100/458 patients (21.8) (P < 0.0001). Following chemotherapy, AIs were administered in 8.5% of the retrospective cohort and in 15.1% of the prospective one (P < 0.0001). The use of taxanes plus hormones dropped (P = 0.0026), but not when used as single agents. A marked increase was observed in the use of anthracycline-based chemotherapy (46.3% vs 65.2%), mainly three-drug regimens (33.3% vs 46.6%).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the St Gallen recommendations have had a major impact on clinical practice.
Cazzaniga
M E
ME
Medical Oncology, Treviglio Hospital, Treviglio, Italy. oncologia@tin.it
Mustacchi
G
G
Pronzato
P
P
De Matteis
A
A
Di Costanzo
F
F
Floriani
I
I
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors