Brain metastases after achieving local pathological complete responses with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Medical Research

Background:

• Investigating treatment outcomes for inflammatory breast carcinoma.
• Examining the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Observation:

• Two patients with inflammatory breast carcinoma achieved pathological complete response (pCR) after NAC.
• Both patients subsequently developed symptomatic brain metastases post-treatment.

Findings:

• Local pathological complete response does not preclude distant metastasis.
• Brain metastases can occur despite successful neoadjuvant chemotherapy and local treatment.

Implications:

• Consider screening for brain metastases in locally advanced inflammatory breast cancer patients, even after achieving pCR.
• This highlights the need for systemic surveillance beyond local response assessment.