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Survival After Breast Cancer Brain Metastases About 13.9 Months: Presented at SABCS

By Ed Susman

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- December 17, 2007 -- Researchers mining the dataset from the registHER study -- an observational cohort of about 1,000 women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer -- reported that the median survival after detection of brain metastasis is about 13.9 months.

The researchers also found that brain metastases occur in about 30% of women, and also occur relatively early -- after a median of 12.1 months following the diagnosis that the cancer has spread, said Denise Yardley, MD, Director, Breast Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Nashville, Tennessee.

"RegistHER represents the largest dataset of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and provides a unique opportunity to characterize the natural history of this important subset of patients," Dr. Yardley said on December 16 here at the 30th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

The study enrolled 1,023 women between December 2003 and February 2006. Dr. Yardley's team analyzed 768 of these women, who were diagnosed with metastatic disease. Of this group, 236 women (30.7%) were diagnosed with central nervous system metastases.

These HER2-positive patients who developed central nervous system metastases were more likely to be young, to have hormone-receptor-negative disease, and to have higher disease burden, Dr. Yardley said.

About 39.7% of the patients were on their first line of chemotherapy when they were diagnosed with central nervous system metastases; 32.1% were on their second line of treatment; 16.8% of patients were into their third line of treatment.

Among patients who had a central nervous system metastases at the time of diagnosis, about three fourths had a trastuzumab-containing first-line regimen; 5.8% of these women received a chemotherapy- or hormone-containing first-line treatment; 17.3% did not receive a first-line treatment but were receiving treatment before their first progressive event.

Funding for this study was provided by Genentech, Inc.


[Presentation title: RegistHER: Patient Characteristics and Time Course of CNS Metastases in Patients With HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer. Abstract 6049]

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