Role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in downstaging locally advanced breast carcinoma, selection of surgical procedure and its outcome

Abstract

Background: In clinical practice all cases of locally advanced breast carcinoma (LABC) warrant chemotherapy followed by multimodality care. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) has been the mainstay in the management of LABC. The main aim of NACT is to downstage and prevent systemic micrometastasis early.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted on 36 diagnosed cases of stage III locally advanced breast cancer coming to the Dept. of Surgery, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College and hospital, Pune for a period of 2 years from 2017-2019. The effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was assessed based on clinical, pathological and radiological response.Results: Among 36 LABC cases, maximum number of patients fell in the 41-50 years (41.6%) and presented in the Infiltrating ductal carcinoma group with a clinical stage IIIA disease. The response to NACT showed that a total of 12 patients (33.3%) showed complete clinical response and 30 patients were downstaged after neoadjuvant chemotherapy which was statistically significant. Only 4 out of the total 12 complete clinical responders went for Breast conservative surgery. Seroma formation was found to be the most common post-operative complication.Conclusions: LABC subjected to neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on taxanes/Anthracyclines show good clinical and radiological response. Patients preferred modified radical mastectomy due to the lack of awareness and low socioeconomic strata.The type of surgery did not increase  the chance of recurrence in the follow up period.