Fulvestrant as Maintenance Therapy After First-line Chemotherapy in HER2 - Postmenopausal MBC Patients
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2017-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers among women, and represents 20 - 25% of
all female cancers. Despite earlier diagnosis and improvement in adjuvant therapies, some
patients will present metastatic recurrence.
Treatment of breast cancer is determined by the extent of the disease. Early or localized
breast cancer is treated by a combination of surgery and radiotherapy. Adjuvant systemic
therapy, consisting of chemotherapy and/or endocrine therapy, in tumors deemed hormone
responsive, can prolong the disease-free interval and improve overall survival. However,
approximately 30% to 40% of patients with early breast cancer will ultimately relapse, with
either local recurrence or distant metastases, and require further systemic treatment for
advanced disease.
Since breast cancer that recurs or progresses after initial treatment is considered
incurable, the therapy options available for advanced disease are concerned with disease
control and palliation of symptoms.
Hormonal therapy has become the treatment of choice in postmenopausal women with hormone
sensitive breast cancer. Even though the treatment of advanced breast cancer in
postmenopausal women has improved with the introduction of agents such as aromatase
inhibitors, these agents still have limitations, and disease management continues to be
sub-optimal. The use of systemic therapies such as hormonal therapy, chemotherapy or new
biological treatment is to reduce tumour masses, improve survival and preserve quality of
life. Whatever the initial efficacy of the treatment undertaken in metastatic setting, almost
every patient will relapse. The main goal is to improve progression free survival (PFS). To
achieve this, the type of chemotherapy, the optimal duration of chemotherapy, the benefit of
maintenance chemotherapy, the benefit of maintenance hormonal treatment are debatable.