Capecitabine for Postsurgical Residual Breast Cancer

For patients receiving preoperative chemotherapy, a finding of residual disease in the breast or axillary lymph nodes raises the concern of increased risk for recurrence. By extension, both the patient and physician face the dilemma of what additional systemic therapy can be used, particularly if the tumor is not HER2-positive or endocrine sensitive. To date, the use of additional postoperative chemotherapy following a standard preoperative chemotherapy regimen has failed to improve outcome and only exposes the patient to additional toxicity.

Now, investigators in Japan and South Korea have conducted a multicenter phase III trial (CREATE-X) to evaluate the use of adjuvant capecitabine in 910 patients with HER2-negative primary breast cancer …