Diagnosis and treatment status of metastatic breast cancer in China

Objective To investigate the diagnosis and treatment status of metastatic breast cancer in China,and to provide evidence and reference for the diagnosis and management norm of breast cancer.Methods The clinicopathological characteristic and treatment status of 910 cases of metastatic breast cancer collected from April 2011 to August 2012 were analyzed.Results The discordance rate for HR status between primary and recurrent breast cancer was 10.2 ％ (x2 =3.571,P =0.059) with 9.2 ％ of tumours changing from ER positive to ER negative and 13.0 ％ changing from ER negative to ER positive.The discordance rate for Her-2 was 10.0 ％ (x2 =3.571,P =0.002) with 10.0 ％ of tumours changing from Her-2 positive to Her-2 negative and 10.0 ％ changing from Her-2 negative to Her-2 positive.The cases received neoadjuvant chemotherapy,adjuvant chemotherapy,adjuvant endocrine therapy counted for 7.8 ％ (71/910),67.6 ％ (615/910),35.4 ％ (322/910),respectively.The majority of patients had received anthracyclines and taxanes as adjuvant chemotherapy(46.8 ％).The majority of metastatic breast cancer with HR positive received chemotherapy as first-line therepy (97.7 ％,589/603).The majority of patients with Her-2 positive received chemotherapy as first-line therepy (96.9 ％,216/223),The minority of patients received taxanes as first-line chemotherapy (8.8 ％,19/215) in anthracycline-pretreated patients with MBC.The majority of patients (93.3 ％,42/45) didn' t receive anthracyclines and taxanesas first-line treatment of MBC after prior taxane therapy only.The majority of patients with MBC previously treated with anthracycline and taxanes received other cytotoxic drugs (95.1％,274/288).The minority of patients had received anthracyclines and(or) taxanes for patients unreceived anthracyclines and taxanes (9.1％,33/362).Conclusion The significant discordance exists for hormone receptor and Her-2 status between primary and metastatic breast cancer samples.Biopsies of metastatic lesions are important for making effective treatment decision.The phenomenon of standard treatment of advanced breast cancer is prevalent,but there are still some shortcomings. Key words: Breast neoplasms;  China;  Diagnosis;  Treatment