Does treatment sequence affect outcomes in patients with metaplastic breast cancer?

Introduction: We compared characteristics and outcomes by treatment sequence among patients with metaplastic breast cancer (MBC), an aggressive subtype. Methods: Women >= 18 years old with newly diagnosed Stage I-III MBC from 2003 to 2018 who received any treatment in our health system were identified. Unadjusted overall survival (OS) was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method; the log-rank test was used to compare survival differences between recipients of neoadjuvant (NACT) and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). Results: Of the 91 MBC patients identified, 60 received chemotherapy. NACT recipients (n = 20, median age 46.5 y) were younger than ACT recipients (n = 40, median age 60.5 y, p < 0.001) but similar with regards to race and radiation receipt. There was no significant OS difference between NACT and ACT recipients (log-rank p = 0.15), which remained true when patients were stratified by age (>= 50 y vs < 50 y). Conclusions: Among MBC patients, NACT recipients were younger than ACT recipients, but there was no survival difference by treatment sequence. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

This study compared characteristics and outcomes of patients with metaplastic breast cancer (MBC) by treatment sequence, finding no significant survival difference between neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) recipients. NACT recipients were typically younger than ACT recipients.