Table 2 Overview of included studies
Author | Chemotherapy regimen | Response assessment | Field strength (Tesla) | Pathologic assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Abraham et al. | 4–5 cycles of doxorubicin | WHO | 1.5 | 4 categories: (1) no residual disease; (2) disease in a single quadrant only; (3) multiquadrant small residual disease; (4) multiquadrant extensive disease |
Esserman et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide | WHO | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Rieber et al. | 3–5 cycles of anthracyclines and epirubicine/paclitaxel, or anthracyclines and cyclophosphamide | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Partridge et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by up to 12 cycles of paclitaxel | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Cheung et al. | 3 cycles of paclitaxel and epirubicin | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Denis et al. | 5-fluorouracil/epirubicine, or 6 cycles of docetaxel or 8 cycles of docetaxel/epirubicine | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Warren et al. | 6 cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide, or 6 cycles of doxorubicin/docetaxel, or 4 cycles epirubicin then 4 cycles cyclophosphamide, or 4 cycles epirubicin, or docetaxel/herceptin | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | UICC response criteria/NHSBSP guidelines |
Martincich et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin bolus, followed by paclitaxel (n = 29). In one case, doxorubicin was omitted because of low baseline left ventricular ejection fraction | WHO | 1.5 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90 % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaing, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response |
Schott et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin/docetaxel | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Definitions of response: pCR: no viable invasive cancer or DCIS. Stable disease/non-complete response: does not meet criteria for pCR. Partial response and progressive disease: not defined |
Yeh et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin, then 9 cycles of paclitaxel (or vice versa) | RECIST | 1.5 | Equal to pathology if longest tumour diameter was within 30Â % of pathology tumour size. Not equal if tumour diameter was less than 70Â % of pathology tumour size (underestimation) or more than 130Â % of pathology tumour size (overestimation) |
Belli et al. | 3 cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil alternated with adriamycine, or 6 cycles of epirubicin and taxole | WHO | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Segara et al. | ER/PR/HER2 negative: 4 cycles cisplatin. ER positive: 4 cycles capecitabine. HER2 positive: either trastuzumab/vinorelbine or trastuzumab/carboplatin/docetaxel | RECIST | 1.5 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90Â % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaing, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response |
Kim et al. | 3 cycles of doxorubicine/docetaxel | WHO | 1.5 | Equal to pathology if tumour size was within 50Â % of pathology tumour size. Not equal if tumour size was less than 50Â % of pathology tumour size (underestimation) or more than 150Â % of pathology tumour size (overestimation) |
Chen et al. | 2 cycles of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide, then either 2 cycles of additional cyclophosphamide or taxane-based regimen (paclitaxel or Nab-paclitaxel combined with carboplatin. HER2+ also received trastuzumab, HER2- also received bevacizumab | RECIST | 1.5 | 3 categories: (1) no residual malignancy or cancer cells; (2) no residual invasive cancer, but DCIS present; (3) residual invasive cancer. Categories 1 and 2 are considered pCR |
Bhattacharyya et al. | 6 cycles of doxorubicin or epirubicin and cyclophosphamide | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Moon et al. | Taxane/anthracycline regimen, or anthracycline regimen, or trastuzumab | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Wright et al. | Epirubicin/taxotere (n = 30); doxorubicin/cyclophosphamid (n = 17); cyclophosphamide/taxotere/herceptin (n = 1) | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90 % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaing, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response |
Woodhams et al. | 4 cycles of anthracycline/cyclophosphamide, followed by 4 cycles of paclitaxel | Not applicable | 1.5 | 4 categories: (1) no residual disease; (2) disease in single quadrant only; (3) multiple residual diseases including EIC limited to one quadrant; (4) multiple residual disease including EIC in 2 or more quadrants |
Park et al. | 3 cycles of docetaxel/doxorubicin | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
De Los Santos et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin, then 4 cycles of paclitaxel, then 4 cycles of cyclophosphamide | RECIST | 1.5 | Assessment for pCR |
Straver et al. | HER2-: 6 cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide, 6 cycles of doxorubicin/docetaxel, or 6 cycles of capecitabine/docetaxel, or the combination of 3 cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide plus 3 cycles of capecitabine/docetaxel. HER2+: doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide and after 2005 paclitaxel, trastuzumab, carboplatin | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5/3 | Assessment for pCR |
Nakahara et al. | 4–6 cycles of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide, with or without doxifluridine. In 17 cases continuation with 4–6 cycles docetaxel or 12 cycles paclitaxel. In 15 cases 6 cycles of docetaxel/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide. In HER2+, also taxanes (n = 7) or taxanes/trastuzumab (n = 4) | RECIST | 1.5 | Japanese Breast Cancer Society classification system |
Wang et al. | Taxol/carboplatin n.o.s. | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Dongfeng et al. | 4 cycles of paclitaxel/pirarubicin | RECIST | 3 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Fangberget et al. | Letrozol therapy (n = 2); or 4 cycles 5-fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide, followed by 2 additional cycles (n = 10), or switch to taxans (n = 10) or taxans/trastuzumab (n = 8) | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Guarneri et al. | 4–8 cycles of either epirubicin/paclitaxel or paclitaxel, followed by 5-fluorouacil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide. Some HER2+ patients also received trastuzumab (n = 25) | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Loo et al. | Different regimes: majority of HER2-recieved 6 cycles of cyclosphosphamide/doxorubicin, some HER2-6 cycles of capecitibine/docetaxel, or doxorubicin/docetaxel; if no response, switch to 3 cycles of cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin, followed by 3 cycles of capecitibine/docetaxel; HER2+ recieved 8 weeks of paclitaxel/trastuzumab/carboplatin, followed by either 2 × 8 weeks paclitaxel/trastuzumab/carboplatin, or 4 cycles of trastuzumab/fluorouacil/cyclophosphamide | Two approaches: Breast Response Index, and dichotomously (presence or absence of residual disease). PCR and near-pCR were considered on category (pCR) | 1.5/3 | World Health Organisation grading of tumours |
Shin et al. | 8 cycles of adriamycin/cyclophosphamide/docetaxel, or 8 cycles of capecitabine/vinorelbine/docetaxel | RECIST | 1.5 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90Â % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaining, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response |
Lyou et al. | 3–6 cycles of taxane/anthracycline, or 3–4 cycles of anthracycline-based regimen, or 6 cycles of trastuzumab/taxane regimen | RECIST | 1.5 | Correlation with tumour size measurements |
Chen et al. | 2 cycles of doxorubicin, followed by cyclophosphamide biweekly, followed by 12Â weeks of taxane based regimen; or only taxane-based regimen | Not reported | 3 | 3 grades: (1) no residual cancer cells; (2) no residual invasive cancer cells but ductal carcinoma in situ; (3) residual invasive cancer. PCR was defined as being category 1 and 2 |
Kim et al. | Taxane/anthracycline based regimen, or | RECIST | 1.5/3 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90Â % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaining, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response |
Kuzucan et al. | Combination of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide and taxane based regimen; or only cyclophosphamide; or only taxane-based regimen | Not reported | 1.5/3 | Pathologic complete response defined as the absence of invasive cancer |
Takeda et al. | Docetaxel and cyclophosphamide for 3–6 cycles | No WHO or RECIST | 3 | Pathologic complete response defined as the absence of invasive cancer |
Shin et al. | 4 cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide; or 4 cycles of cyclophosphamide followed by 4 cycles of docetaxel; or doxorubicin/docetaxel; or 5-fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide; or 6 cycles of trastuzumab/paclitaxel | RECIST | 1.5 | PCR classified into two categories: (1) no residual disease, or (2) absence of invasive cancer, but DCIS present |
Hylton et al. | Anthracycline-cyclophosphamide regimen alone or followed by a taxane | RECIST | 1.5 | Residual cancer burden and pathologic complete response; pCR defined as the absence of invasive cancer |
Park et al. | 3 cycles of doxorubicin/docetaxel; or (if HER2-positive) 6 cycles of paclitaxel/gemcitabine/trastuzumab | No WHO or RECIST | 1.5 | 5 grades: (1) some alteration in individual cells but no reduction in overall number of tumour cells; (2) mild loss of invasive tumour cells but still high cellularity; (3) estimated >90Â % loss of tumour cells; (4) only small clusters of disease remaining, or only in situ component, or only tumour stroma remaining; (5) pathologic complete response Pathologic complete response defined as the absence of invasive cancer. Pathologic complete response defined as the absence of invasive cancer PCR classified into two categories: (1) no residual disease, or (2) absence of invasive cancer, but DCIS present. Residual cancer burden and pathologic complete response; pCR defined as the absence of invasive cancer |