Breast Cancer Treated by Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, known as "first" or "induction chemotherapy" in the therapeutic assumption of breast cancer is based on the narrow dependence preclinically revealed between primary tumour, tumoral angiogenesis and growth of distant metastases. The results of the Aberdeen Group (Smith et al, 2002 ; Hutcheon et al, 2003), of the NSABP B27 trial (Bear et al, 2003) and of the Gepar-Duo Group (Von Minckwitz et al, 2002) have shown that a sequential protocol, using docetaxel after an anthracycline-based combination, allowed a better clinical response leading to more frequent conservative surgeries and, more importantly, to an increase in the rate of complete pathological response, assessing a better efficacy. The use of a reference adjuvant protocol as a neo-adjuvant treatment is fully admissible because 7 randomized trials have shown a perfect equivalence between an adjuvant protocol and the same chemotherapy given as an induction treatment Even keeping the principle of a sequential treatment, a crucial question is to know if this sequential treatment should be the same for all patients, or if the oncologist could get a better complete pathological response, disease-free or overall survival rates by an adaptation of treatment to the objective result beginning after 2 FEC 100 courses by modulation of the following courses. We will use as a primary regimen 3 FEC cycles + 3 TAXOTERE cycles, a standard adjuvant regimen (noted in the Temporary Protocol of Treatment of the Inca page 5 (October 2005) as well as in Saint Paul de Vence 2005 recommendations for adjuvant chemotherapy (Oncologie -- volume 7 - N°5, August 2005, p 370). This standard treatment will be compared to the same chemotherapy modulated in its repartition according to results obtained by subsequent tumor evaluations during induction therapy.