Trastuzumab for HER2 Early Breast Cancer: Long-Term Follow-Up

The first reports from the international, randomized, phase III HERA trial of patients with HER2-positive, early-stage breast cancer demonstrated what other trials confirmed: The addition of adjuvant trastuzumab to standard treatment for this patient population significantly improved the disease-free survival (DFS) and was associated with few breast cancer deaths compared with observation. Also, recent results from HERA showed that there was no advantage to 2 years versus 1 year of trastuzumab at a median follow-up of 8 years (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Oct 2013 and Lancet 2013; 382:9897).

Now, the HERA investigators provide results at a median follow-up of 11 years on 5102 patients who, after completion of all primary therapy (surgery, radiation…