14th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference 2015: Evidence, Controversies, Consensus - Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer: Opinions Expressed by German Experts

The key topics of this year's 14th St. Gallen Consensus Conference on the diagnosis and therapy of primary breast cancer were again questions about breast surgery and axillary surgery, radio-oncology and systemic therapy options in consideration of tumor biology, and the clinical application of multigene assays. This year, the consensus conference took place in Vienna. From a German perspective, it makes sense to substantiate the results of the vote of the international panel representing 19 countries in light of the updated national therapy recommendations of the AGO (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gynäkologische Onkologie). Therefore, 14 German breast cancer experts, 3 of whom are members of the International St. Gallen Panel, have commented on the voting results of the St. Gallen Consensus Conference 2015 in relation to clinical routine in Germany

Long-term tumor remission under trastuzumab treatment for HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer : results from the HER-OS patient registry

Background: In this study, we examined patients who had non-progressive disease for at least 2 years after diagnosis of inoperable locoregional recurrent or metastatic breast cancer under continuous trastuzumab treatment. Our primary goal was to assess the long-term outcome of patients with durable response to trastuzumab. Methods: 268 patients with HER2-positive inoperable locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer and non-progressive disease for at least 2 years under trastuzumab treatment were documented retrospectively or prospectively in the HER-OS registry, an online documentation tool, between December 2006 and September 2010 by 71 German oncology centers. The study end point was time to tumor progression. Results: Overall, 47.1% of patients (95% confidence interval (CI): 39.9–54.1%) remained in remission for more than 5 years, while the median time to progression was 4.5 years (95% CI: 4.0–6.6 years). Lower age (<50 years) and good performance status (ECOG 0) at time of trastuzumab treatment initiation as well as complete remission after initial trastuzumab treatment were associated with longer time to progression. Interruption of trastuzumab therapy correlated with shorter time to progression. Conclusions: HER2-positive patients, who initially respond to palliative treatment with trastuzumab, can achieve a long-term tumor remission of several years