Experience of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer at a public hospital: retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE To review local experience of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Public hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS Seventeen patients who presented from August 1988 through April 1997 with locally advanced breast cancer, which was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS The clinical response rate was 71% and two of the 12 patients who responded to chemotherapy achieved complete remission. Three patients had their tumours downstaged sufficiently to allow them to undergo breast conservation surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. None of these three patients has so far had a local recurrence of disease. CONCLUSION Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can achieve a high objective response rate in patients with locally advanced breast cancer and thus enables breast conservation surgery to be performed on patients who are initially not suitable for this procedure.