Pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with trastuzumab predicts for improved survival in women with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer.

Background: We sought to determine the prognostic value of pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with concurrent trastuzumab.

Methods: Two hundred and twenty-nine women with HER2/neu (HER2)-overexpressing breast cancer were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus trastuzumab between 2001 and 2008. Patients were grouped based on pathologic complete response (pCR, n = 114) or less than pCR (

Results: The median follow-up was 63 (range 53-77) months. There was no difference in clinical stage between patients with pCR or

Conclusions: pCR and lower pathologic stage after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with trastuzumab are the strongest predictors of recurrence and survival and are surrogates of the long-term outcome in patients with HER2-overexpressing disease.