title: Can maintenance trastuzumab be stopped in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer?
abstract: Trastuzumab has significantly improved the median survival of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. In metastatic disease, maintenance trastuzumab is usually given after tumour response has been achieved with the combination of chemotherapy and trastuzumab, with the aim of prolonging time to disease progression. We report a case where a durable complete response (CR) was achieved without maintenance trastuzumab. In the absence of consensus guidelines, it is difficult to recommend which HER2-positive patients with metastatic breast cancer after CR will benefit from withdrawing maintenance trastuzumab therapy and when this could be considered.
authors.affiliation: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pittman
authors.affiliation: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.affiliation: The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Townsend
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D000068878:Trastuzumab / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000068878:Trastuzumab; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human