Chemotherapy for ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence: a propensity score-matching study

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Breast Cancer Research
• Clinical Trials and Epidemiology

Background:

• Ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) is a concern after breast-conserving surgery.
• The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in managing IBTR remains an area of investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the survival benefit of chemotherapy in patients experiencing IBTR.
• To compare outcomes between chemotherapy and no-chemotherapy groups using propensity score matching (PSM).
• To analyze survival based on hormone receptor status of the recurrence.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 217 IBTR patients treated between 1990 and 2013.
• 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) to create comparable groups.
• Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models assessed second recurrence-free survival (RFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival (OS).

Main Results:

• After PSM, 35 patients were in each group (chemotherapy vs. no chemotherapy).
• No significant differences in 10-year second RFS, DMFS, or OS were observed between groups.
• Stratified analyses by hormone receptor status yielded similar non-significant results.

Conclusions:

• Chemotherapy demonstrated no significant impact on long-term survival outcomes for IBTR patients.
• This finding was consistent across both hormone receptor-positive and -negative IBTR cases.