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Breast Cancer

Multivariate analysis of survival in inflammatory breast cancer: impact of intensity of chemotherapy in multimodality treatment

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 33, pages 913–920 (2004)Cite this article

Summary:

The prognosis of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is poor. We evaluated clinical and biopathological characteristics that could affect survival in 74 women with nonmetastatic IBC consecutively treated in our institution between 1976 and 2000. Patients received primary anthracycline-based chemotherapy at conventional doses (n=20) or high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with haematopoietic stem cell support (HSCS) (n=54). After chemotherapy, 84% of patients underwent mastectomy, 95% were given radiotherapy and 55% tamoxifen. Immunohistochemistry data (ER, PR, ERBB2, P53) on pre-chemotherapy specimens suggested strong differences between IBC and non-IBC. The rate of pathological complete response to chemotherapy was 26% (27% with HDC and 17% with conventional doses, not significant). No single factor was found predictive of response. With a median follow-up of 48 months after diagnosis, the 5-year projected disease-free survival (DFS) was 24% and overall survival (OS) 41%. In multivariate analysis, the strongest independent prognostic factor was the delivery of HDC. The 5-year DFS and OS of patients were respectively 28 and 50% with HDC and 15 and 18% with conventional chemotherapy. These results and comparisons with other series of patients suggest a role for HDC with HSCS as part of the therapeutic approach in IBC. Further prospective studies are required to confirm it.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC Printemps 2002, Grant No. 4719).

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Author notes

  1. F Bertucci and C Tarpin: FB and CT equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    F Bertucci, C Tarpin, A-C Braud, G Gravis, F Viret, A Gonçalves, D Maraninchi & P Viens

  2. Department of Molecular Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    F Bertucci

  3. Department of Pathology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    E Charafe-Jauffret & J Jacquemier

  4. Department of Statistics, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    V-J Bardou

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    A Tallet

  6. Department of Surgery, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    G Houvenaeghel

  7. Department of Haematology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, Cedex 09, France

    D Blaise

  8. UFR Medicine, University of Mediterranean, Marseille, France

    F Bertucci, C Tarpin, E Charafe-Jauffret, A Gonçalves, G Houvenaeghel, D Blaise, D Maraninchi & P Viens

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Correspondence to P Viens.

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Bertucci, F., Tarpin, C., Charafe-Jauffret, E. et al. Multivariate analysis of survival in inflammatory breast cancer: impact of intensity of chemotherapy in multimodality treatment. Bone Marrow Transplant 33, 913–920 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704458

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