Pathological response of breast carcinomas after chemotherapy

Pathological complete response (pCR) in Her-2 positive breast cancer is the ultimate goal of every oncologist as it is associated with a better prognosis in these patients. Thus several authors have attempted to explore the factors that may influence the quality of pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in an attempt to predict the pathological response expected by the tumor. In this work we investigated the factors potentially predictive of a pCR and the prognostic impact of the latter through a retrospective study of 34 patients with Her-2 positive breast carcinoma treated by surgery after NAC over a 10-year period between 2013 and 2023. A pCR was obtained in 7 patients (20.6%). Tumors with RH-negative status/overexpressed Her-2 molecular subtype responded better to NAC than their RH-positive or Luminal B molecular subtype counterparts. Therapeutically the addition of neoadjuvant Trastuzumab was significantly predictive of pCR. At the same time the achievement of pCR was associated with a better prognosis.