Susan Dent

Cardiotoxicity of anticancer treatments: Epidemiology, detection, and management.

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Lapatinib or Trastuzumab Plus Taxane Therapy for Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2–Positive Advanced Breast Cancer: Final Results of NCIC CTG MA.31

PURPOSEnThe efficacy of lapatinib versus trastuzumab combined with taxanes in the first-line setting of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -positive metastatic breast cancer (BC) is unknown.nnnPATIENTS AND METHODSnThe MA.31 trial compared a combination of first-line anti-HER2 therapy (lapatinib or trastuzumab) and taxane therapy for 24 weeks, followed by the same anti-HER2 monotherapy until progression. Stratification was by prior (neo)adjuvant anti-HER2 therapy, prior (neo)adjuvant taxane, planned taxane, and liver metastases. The primary end point was intention-to-treat (ITT) progression-free survival (PFS), defined as time from random assignment to progression by RECIST (version 1.0) criteria, or death for patients with locally assessed HER2-positive tumors. The primary test statistic was a stratified log-rank test for noninferiority. PFS was also assessed for patients with centrally confirmed HER2-positive tumors.nnnRESULTSnFrom July 17, 2008, to December 1, 2011, 652 patients were accrued from 21 countries, resulting in 537 patients with centrally confirmed HER2-positive tumors. Median follow-up was 21.5 months. Median ITT PFS was 9.0 months with lapatinib and 11.3 months with trastuzumab. By ITT analysis, PFS was inferior for lapatinib compared with trastuzumab, with a stratified hazard ratio (HR) of 1.37 (95% CI, 1.13 to 1.65; P = .001). In patients with centrally confirmed HER2-positive tumors, median PFS was 9.1 months with lapatinib and 13.6 months with trastuzumab (HR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.83; P < .001). More grade 3 or 4 diarrhea and rash were observed with lapatinib (P < .001). PFS results were supported by the secondary end point of overall survival, with an ITT HR of 1.28 (95% CI, 0.95 to 1.72; P = .11); in patients with centrally confirmed HER2-positive tumors, the HR was 1.47 (95% CI, 1.03 to 2.09; P = .03).nnnCONCLUSIONnAs first-line therapy for HER2-positive metastatic BC, lapatinib combined with taxane was associated with shorter PFS and more toxicity compared with trastuzumab combined with taxane.

Aromatase inhibitor therapy: toxicities and management strategies in the treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone-sensitive early breast cancer.

Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) have been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence and are widely used today as adjuvant therapy in women with early stage endocrine-responsive breast cancer. Aromatase inhibitors may be prescribed as initial hormonal therapy, sequentially following 2–3xa0years of tamoxifen, or as extended adjuvant therapy (following 5xa0years of tamoxifen). Aromatase inhibitors are generally well tolerated; however, certain side effects, particularly arthralgia/musculoskeletal symptoms and gynecologic effects, may result in poor adherence to treatment. Patients receiving adjuvant therapy with an AI should be counseled regarding possible side effects and the importance of completing treatment. Interventions to ameliorate side effects should be individualized based on symptoms, comorbid conditions, and pre-existing therapies. In addition, bone and cardiovascular health should be monitored during AI therapy. Prompt therapeutic management of common side effects associated with AIs may provide patients with the opportunity to receive the full benefit of their adjuvant hormonal treatment while minimizing toxicity.

HER2-targeted therapy in breast cancer: A systematic review of neoadjuvant trials

Targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) during or in sequence with chemotherapy improves overall survival in metastatic and early HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. In this paper we systematically review neoadjuvant clinical trial data in HER2-positive breast cancer and discuss key unanswered clinical questions. All trials of HER2-targeted neoadjuvant therapy were identified through non-date-limited searches of PubMED® and Biosis® and congress abstract book searches from 2000-2011. Eligible trials were prospective, had at least 10 patients and a clear definition of pathological complete response (pCR) rate. A total of 50 trials fulfilled the eligibility criteria; 41 single-arm phase II studies were identified, 37 with trastuzumab and 4 with lapatinib, with significant variability in baseline tumour characteristics and pCR rates (range 12-66.7%). Of 9 randomised phase II/III trials, 4 assessed the addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy and a further 5 randomised trials assessed different HER2-targeting approaches. Four of these studies assessed dual HER2-targeting approaches, which universally increased pCR at the expense of increased non-cardiac toxicity when lapatinib, but not pertuzumab, was added to trastuzumab. Significant advances have been made in HER2 targeting, resulting in a marked increase in the number of breast cancer patients experiencing tumour pCR. Mature data from randomised neoadjuvant and adjuvant studies are awaited for survival outcomes with combination targeted approaches. Unanswered questions centre on the individualisation of therapy and include; which, if any, chemotherapy backbone should be used, and which patients need dual HER2 blockade?

Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for Evaluation and Management of Cardiovascular Complications of Cancer Therapy

Modern treatment strategies have led to improvements in cancer survival, however, these gains might be offset by the potential negative effect of cancer therapy on cardiovascular health. Cardiotoxicity is now recognized as a leading cause of long-term morbidity and mortality among cancer survivors. This guideline, authored by a pan-Canadian expert group of health care providers and commissioned by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, is intended to guide the care of cancer patients with established cardiovascular disease or those at risk of experiencing toxicities related to cancer treatment. It includes recommendations and important management considerations with a focus on 4 main areas: identification of the high-risk population for cardiotoxicity, detection and prevention of cardiotoxicity, treatment of cardiotoxicity, and a multidisciplinary approach to cardio-oncology. All recommendations align with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Key recommendations for which the panel provides a strong level of evidence include: (1) that routine evaluation of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and optimal treatment of preexisting cardiovascular disease be performed in all patients before, during, and after receiving cancer therapy; (2) that initiation, maintenance, and/or augmentation of antihypertensive therapy be instituted per the Canadian Hypertension Educational Program guidelines for patients with preexisting hypertension or for those who experience hypertension related to cancer therapy; and (3) that investigation and management follow current Canadian Cardiovascular Society heart failure guidelines for cancer patients who develop clinical heart failure or an asymptomatic decline in left ventricular ejection fraction during or after cancer treatment. This guideline provides guidance to clinicians on contemporary best practices for the cardiovascular care of cancer patients.

Association of Pathologic Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Long-Term Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis.

IMPORTANCEnThe expense and lengthy follow-up periods for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of adjuvant systemic therapy in breast cancer make them impractical and even impossible to conduct. Randomized clinical trials of neoadjuvant systemic therapy for breast cancer may help resolve this dilemma.nnnOBJECTIVEnTo assess the utility of pathologic complete response (pCR) for neoadjuvant drug development in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 [also referred to as ERBB2])-positive breast cancer.nnnDATA SOURCESnWe searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CENTRAL (Wiley), and Northern Light Life Sciences Conference Abstracts (Ovid) in December 2014. Searches combined terms for breast cancer and neoadjuvant therapy, with no limit on publication date.nnnSTUDY SELECTIONnCohort studies and RCTs were selected that met following criteria: stages I to III HER2-positive breast cancer, neoadjuvant therapy, and reports of both pCR and an event-free survival (EFS)-type outcome. The initial search identified 2614 publications, of which 38 studies met the selection criteria.nnnDATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESISnTwo authors independently screened each study for inclusion and extracted the data. Data were analyzed using Bayesian hierarchical models.nnnMAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESnEvent-free survival and overall survival (OS) hazard ratios (HRs) for pCR vs non-pCR. For RCTs, main outcome measures were treatment benefits in pCR and the corresponding treatment HRs for EFS and OS.nnnRESULTSnA total of 36 studies with EFS by pCR status representing 5768 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer were included in the patient-level analysis. Overall, the improvement in EFS for pCR vs non-pCR was substantial: HR, 0.37 (95% probability interval [PI], 0.32-0.43). This association was greater for patients with hormone receptor-negative disease (HR, 0.29 [95% PI, 0.24-0.36]) than hormone receptor-positive disease (HR, 0.52 [95% PI, 0.40-0.66]). In RCTs, the R2 correlations between odds ratios for pCR and HRs were 0.63 for EFS and 0.29 for OS. Based on absolute treatment improvements in pCR rate, predicted HRs for EFS for RCTs were concordant with observed HRs.nnnCONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEnPathologic complete response in HER2-positive breast cancer is associated with substantially longer times to recurrence and death. This relationship is maintained in RCTs. For any particular new therapy the relationship between pCR and survival may differ. Quantifying the importance of pCR is necessary for designing efficient clinical trials, which should adapt to the relationship between pCR and survival for the therapy under investigation.

Prospective validation of risk prediction indexes for acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

BACKGROUNDnDespite the use of standardized anti-emetic guidelines, up to 20% of cancer patients suffer from moderate-to-severe chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (cinv)-that is, grade 2 or greater according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. We previously developed cycle-based prediction models and associated scoring systems for acute and delayed cinv. As part of the validation process, we prospectively evaluated the ability of the scoring systems to accurately identify patients deemed to be high risk for grade 2 or greater cinv.nnnMETHODSnPatients who were receiving any chemotherapy for solid tumours and who consented to participate were provided with symptom diaries. Compliance to the diaries was enhanced by 24-hour and 5-day telephone callbacks after chemotherapy in every cycle. All patients received anti-emetic prophylaxis as prescribed by the treating physician. Before each cycle of chemotherapy, the acute and delayed cinv scoring systems were used to stratify patients into low- and high-risk groups. Logistic regression modelling was then applied to compare the risk for grade 2 or greater cinv between patients considered to be at high and at low risk. The external validity of each system was also assessed using an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (auroc) analysis.nnnRESULTSnWe collected cinv outcomes data from 95 patients during 181 cycles of chemotherapy. The incidence of grade 2 or greater acute and delayed cinv was 17.7% and 18.2% respectively. As previously identified, major predictors for grade 2 or greater cinv included younger patient age, platinum- or anthracycline-based chemotherapy, low alcohol consumption, earlier cycles of chemotherapy, previous history of morning sickness, and prior emetic episodes after chemotherapy. The acute and delayed scoring systems both had good predictive accuracy when applied to the external validation sample (acute-auroc: 0.69; 95% confidence interval: 0.59 to 0.79; delayed-auroc: 0.70; 95% confidence interval: 0.60 to 0.80). Patients identified by the scoring systems to be at high risk were 2.8 (p = 0.025) and 3.1 (p = 0.001) times more likely to develop grade 2 or greater acute and delayed cinv.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe present study demonstrates that our scoring systems are able to accurately identify patients at high risk for acute and delayed cinv. Application and planned continued refinement of the scoring systems will be an important means of patient-specific risk assessment that will allow for optimization of anti-emetic therapy.

Acquisition of metastatic tissue from patients with bone metastases from breast cancer

Biopsies of metastatic tissue are increasingly being performed. Bone is the most frequent site of metastasis in breast cancer patients, but bone remains technically challenging to biopsy. Difficulties with both tissue acquisition and techniques for analysis of hormone receptor status are well described. Bone biopsies can be carried out by either by standard posterior iliac crest bone marrow trephine/aspiration or CT-guided biopsy of a radiologically evident bone metastasis. The differential yield of these techniques is unknown. Results from three prospective studies of similar methodology were pooled. Patients underwent both an outpatient posterior iliac crest bone marrow trephine/aspiration and a CT-guided biopsy of a radiologically evident bone metastasis. Samples were assessed for the presence of malignant cells and where possible also for estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expression.xa040 patients were enrolled. Bone marrow aspiration/trephine biopsy was completed in 39/40 (97.5%) and CT-guided biopsy was completed in 34/40 (85%) of patients. Sufficient tumor cells for hormone receptor analysis were available in 19/39 (48.8%) and 16/34 (47%) of and bone marrow aspiration/trephine and CT-guided biopsies, respectively. Significant discordance in ER and PgR between the primary and the bone metastasis was also seen. Nine patients had tissue available from both bone marrow and CT-guided bone biopsies. ER and PgR concordance between these sites was 100 and 78%, respectively. Performing studies on human bone metastases is technically challenging, with relatively low yields regardless of technique. Given resource issues and similar success rates when comparing both techniques, bone marrow examination may be utilized first and if inadequate tissue is obtained, CT-guided biopsies can then be used.

Adjuvant endocrine therapy for early breast cancer: a systematic review of the evidence for the 2014 Cancer Care Ontario systemic therapy guideline

BACKGROUNDnCancer Care Ontarios Program in Evidence-Based Care (pebc) recently created an evidence-based consensus guideline on the systemic treatment of early breast cancer. The evidence for the guideline was compiled using a systematic review to answer the question What is the optimal systemic therapy for patients with early-stage, operable breast cancer, when patient and disease factors are considered? The question was addressed in three parts: cytotoxic chemotherapy, endocrine treatment, and her2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)-targeted therapy.nnnMETHODSnFor the systematic review, the literature in the medline and embase databases was searched for the period January 2008 to May 2014. The Standards and Guidelines Evidence directory of cancer guidelines and the Web sites of major oncology guideline organizations were also searched. The basic search terms were breast cancer and systemic therapy (chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted agents, ovarian suppression), and results were limited to randomized controlled trials (rcts), guidelines, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.nnnRESULTSnSeveral hundred documents that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved. Meta-analyses from the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group encompassed many of the rcts found. Several additional studies that met the inclusion criteria were retained, as were other guidelines and systematic reviews.nnnSUMMARYnThe results of the systematic review constitute a comprehensive compilation of high-level evidence, which was the basis for the 2014 pebc guideline on systemic therapy for early breast cancer. The review of the evidence for systemic endocrine therapy (adjuvant tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors, and ovarian ablation and suppression) is presented here; the evidence for chemotherapy and her2-targeted treatment-and the final clinical practice recommendations-are presented separately in this supplement.

Preference weights for chemotherapy side effects from the perspective of women with breast cancer

AbstractnPerceptions among women with breast cancer about the relative importance of different potential chemotherapy side effects is not well understood. A survey was performed by women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. Grade I/II (mild to moderate) and III/IV (moderate to severe) descriptions of nine common chemotherapy side effects were assigned preference weights using the standard gamble technique. For each hypothetical side effect, patients could choose to stay in the respective side effect state or take a gamble between full health (probability p) or being dead (1xa0−xa0p). For each side effect, p was varied until the patient was indifferent between these options. The survey also included questions about the importance of survival, slowing cancer growth, and quality of life. This analysis included 69 patients; mean age 54xa0years (range 35–84), representing all cancer stages. Standard gamble preferences were lowest (i.e., least preferred) for grade III/IV nausea/vomiting (0.621), indicating that patients would, on average, risk a 38xa0% chance of being dead to avoid having grade III/IV nausea/vomiting for the rest of their lives. The next least preferred side effects were grade III/IV diarrhea (0.677) and grade III/IV sensory neuropathy (0.694). Survival appeared more important than slowing cancer growth and maintaining quality of life across cancer stages. Nevertheless, patients with advanced disease placed less importance on survival (pxa0=xa00.09) and higher importance on quality of life (pxa0=xa00.05). These standard gamble utilities provide unique insights into chemotherapy toxicities from the patient perspective. Differences in the relative importance of overall survival and quality of life with treatment existed between patients with different stages of disease. These studies should be expanded as the data may also be used to calculate quality-adjusted life expectancy in cost-effectiveness evaluations of breast cancer chemotherapies.