ANALYSIS OF TIME TO RESPONSE TO CHEMOTHERAPY IN 316 METASTATIC BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS

Chemotherapy is a major tool for metastatic breast cancer treatment. In this study, a series of 316 patients have been analyzed to evaluate the time needed to reach tumor response by means of combination chemotherapy. Twenty-five percent of patients responded within 3 months and virtually all responses occurred within 7.5 months. The time curves of response (any) and best response are superimposable. A subset analysis has shown that the following pretreatment characteristics predict a significantly longer time to response: prior exposure to adjuvant chemotherapy, nodal positivity at diagnosis, no previous endocrine treatment and osseous metastases.