However, the high rate of T1 tumors in women who had a mastectomy suggests that presurgical staging for women who have neoadjuvant therapy could stand improvement, he noted.
Following the presentation, Dr. Monica Morrow, chief of the breast surgical service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York suggested that the study may not be considering the appropriate duration of neoadjuvant therapy.
"We give this like it’s chemotherapy for 4 months, when we know that it takes a long time to achieve maximum benefit in the adjuvant setting, so would it make more sense to treat people to response plateau, if your goal was downstaging to breast conservation?" she said.
Dr. Morrow was not involved in the study, but she moderated the session in which it was presented.
The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Novartis. Dr. Olson and Dr. Morrow reported that they had no relevant financial disclosures.