Which Patients Benefit from Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer?

Insights into the biology of breast cancer and the benefits of novel therapeutic strategies have increasingly emerged in the neoadjuvant setting, where sequential tissue samples are available and clinical endpoints can be reached more immediately. Neoadjuvant therapy has allowed some patients initially destined for mastectomy to undergo breast-conserving surgery. Survival has not been compromised whether patients receive pre- or postoperative therapy. Administering systemic therapy when clinically detectable disease is present also gives an early read of the efficacy of a particular regimen. Substantial evidence suggests that patients who are able to attain a pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy have the best overall cl…