At the Breast Cancer Symposium, William M. Sikov, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, gave a talk on the use of pathologic complete response in the clinic and summarized the CTNeoBC findings for The ASCO Post.

“The study showed that patients who have more aggressive cancers are more likely to respond to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and receive the greatest benefit if they achieve a pCR. On the other hand, if these patients do not respond they tend to have the poorest prognosis,” he said.

“This information does guide me in the clinic,” he said. “If patients with high-grade cancers achieve pCRs, not only are we likely improving distant recurrence but also locoregional recurrence. It’s another reason to consider neoadjuvant treatment—in part, to be able to assess response to therapy, which we can’t do in the adjuvant setting. Down the road, this may allow us to tailor our locoregional therapy to fit the patient’s needs.”  ■

Disclosure: Dr. Sikov reported no potential conflicts of interest.