Neoadjuvant endocrine treatment in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: Does it result in more breast-conserving surgery?

Patients with locally advanced endocrine positive tumors who will not benefit from chemotherapy can be treated by either primary surgery or neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET). How often does NET result in breast-conserving surgery (BCS)?

We conducted a literature search in PubMed and Embase, to identify articles on surgical treatment after NET.

In 19 studies the pathological complete response (pCR) rate was reported after NET; an overall pCR rate of 1% was found. Compared with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT), the BCS rate was significantly higher after NET (OR 0.60; 95% CI, 0.51–0.69; P < 0.00001). The surgical conversion rate was reported in eight studies [4–75.9%], with a mean of 30.2%.

This review found that one out of three patients becomes eligible for BCS after treatment with NET.