Do your radiation treatment recommendations change if a breast cancer patient does not complete a full course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy?
Do you follow the breast NCCN guidelines to decide adjuvant radiation recommendations if a patient treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy stops the chemotherapy early (1-2 cycles in)?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
No. For the usual patient who has operable/resectable breast cancer, who is planned to have induction chemo followed by surgery, failure to complete the induction chemo would not alter my planned RT. Inherent to this question is the related question of: "Should we alter the RT plans based on the res...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
Agree with Dr. @Marks. We continue to base radiation dose/volume/design currently on pre-chemotherapy staging (including PET, axillary imaging, and often MRI) regardless of completion of NaC. There is clearly an interest in the de-escalation of RT, which ongoing trials will help address. HERO trial ...