Maria Hafez, Assistant Professor at St. Luke’s University Health Network, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“A question worth asking in early HER2-positive breast cancer:
Do all patients need full-intensity neoadjuvant therapy or can some selected patients do very well with less?
A new real-world paper looked at 12 weeks of weekly paclitaxel/carboplatin + trastuzumab/pertuzumab, and the signal is definitely thought-provoking:
- pCR 61% overall
- 75% in ER-negative disease
- 54% in ER-positive disease
- Only 2 recurrences at a median follow-up of 30 months
- No recurrences in the stage IIA IDC subgroup
My read:
This is not a standard-replacing paper. But it is a very important selected-patient paper.
For fit stage II–III patients, standard neoadjuvant therapy remains the reference approach. But for carefully selected stage IIA patients, or for older/frailer patients who may not realistically tolerate full-intensity treatment, this study adds real momentum to the de-escalation conversation.
The future of HER2+ care is not just about escalation. It is about smarter selection. It is about matching treatment intensity to the patient in front of us.
Take-home message:
De-escalation may become a precision strategy, not a compromise.”
Title: Neoadjuvant twelve weekly paclitaxel–carboplatin with trastuzumab and pertuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer
Authors: Yasmin Leshem, Inbal Golomb, Asia Zubkov, Yael Bar, Shlomit Strulov Shachar, Shir Lerner, Noa Keren-Khadmy, Amir Sonnenblick
Read the Full Article.
Other articles featuring Maria Hafez on OncoDaily.