PHERGain: Excellent Outcome Without Chemotherapy for Patients with Early Breast Cancer

This 3-year follow-up suggests that early noninvasive imaging might identify patients who can be treated with trastuzumab and pertuzumab.

De-escalating therapy when it is unneeded, which avoids the associated toxicity, is a goal of clinical research, particularly as new tools can discriminate early between patients who are benefiting and those who are not. The industry-sponsored PHERGain trial is one recent example of using early signals provided by ¹⁸fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸F-FDG-PET) to determine the course of therapy.

In this European, multicenter, open-label, phase 2 trial, patients with HER2-positive invasive breast cancer (stages I–IIIa) were randomized in a 1:4 ratio to: (A) standard docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab (TCHP) or (B) trastuzumab and pertuzumab (71 and 285 patients, respectively). Patients underwent surg…

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)