British oncologists are recommending that adjuvant trastuzumab be considered for patients with small HER2-positive breast tumours in light of “strong circumstantial evidence” supporting its use.
In a review in the Lancet Oncology, Dr Susana Banerjee and Dr Ian Smith from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London said that patients with HER2-positive tumours smaller than 1 cm generally have not received adjuvant trastuzumab because most have an excellent prognosis. The prognosis could be improved even further with this treatment, they suggested.
T1a,bN0 breast cancer, treated with local therapy and usually without adjuvant therapy, had consistently been reported to have a 10-year relapse-free survival of more than 90%.
“However, many of these studies have limitations, including small sample size, short follow-up, and...
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