Bridging Endocrine Therapy for HR+/HER2- Resectable Breast Cancer: Is it Safe?

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has required new treatment paradigms to limit exposures and optimize hospital resources, including the use of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NAET) as bridging therapy for HR+/HER2-invasive tumors and DCIS. While this approach has been used in locally advanced disease, it is unclear how it may affect outcomes in resectable HR+/HER2- tumors. Methods: Women ≥18 years diagnosed with in situ (Tis) or non-metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer from March-May 2019 and 2020 were included. Fisher’s exact test and two-sample t test were used to compare baseline characteristics and surgical outcomes between strata. Sub-analysis was performed between patients who received primary surgery vs a bridging NAET approach. Results: Despite similar clinical characteristics, patients in 2019 were more likely to have a surgery-first approach (75% vs 42%, P-value =.0007), receive surgery sooner (22 vs 29 days, P-value