Treatment, toxicity, and mortality after subsequent breast cancer in female survivors of childhood cancer

Abstract

Childhood cancer survivors, particularly those who received chest radiotherapy, are at high risk for developing subsequent breast cancer. Minimizing long-term toxicity risks associated with additional radiotherapy and chemotherapy is a priority, but therapeutic tradeoffs have not been comprehensively characterized and their impact on survival is unknown. In this study, 431 female childhood cancer survivors with subsequent breast cancer from a multicenter retrospective cohort study were evaluated. Compared with one-to-one matched females with first primary breast cancer, survivors are as likely to be prescribed guideline-concordant treatment (N = 344 pairs; survivors: 94%, controls: 93%), but more frequently undergo mastectomy (survivors: 81%, controls: 60%) and are less likely to be treated with anthracyclines (survivors: 47%, controls: 66%) or radiotherapy (survivors: 18%, controls: 61%). Despite this, survivors have nearly 3.5-fold (95% CI = 2.17-5.57) greater mortality risk. Here, we show survivors with subsequent breast cancer face excess mortality despite therapeutic tradeoffs and require specialized treatment guidelines.