Oncological outcome of complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast conserving surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: With limited sample sizes and single-institution designs, how complete response (CR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) influences breast conserving surgery (BCS) and its value in prognosis are not clear. METHODS: A systematic research review was conducted using electronic database. The rate of clinical complete response (cCR) in BCS after NAC and these pathological CR (PCR) and non-pCR BCS patients’ local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distance recurrence-free survival (DRFS), overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were collected. A pooled analysis was performed using a fixed or random effects model and a Q test to determine heterogeneity. RESULTS: Sixteen studies with a total of 4639 patients were included. The pooled data revealed that cCR patients compared with non-cCR patients had significantly higher rates of BCS, with a summary estimate odds ratios (OR) of 4.54 (95% CI 2.03–10.17). The pooled data revealed that BCS patients who achieved pCR after NAC had significantly lower rates of LRFS (RR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.38–0.92) and DRFS (RR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.13–0.55). Better DFS (RR = 0.09, 95% CI 0.04–0.25) and OS (RR = 0.36, 95% CI 0.03–3.90) were also seen, but OS was not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of successful BCS is higher in the cCR group than in the non-cCR group, means cCR after NAC can encourage patients to receive BCS. The achievement of pCR after NAC in BCS patients was associated with a good prognosis in terms of LRFS and DRFS, but its value in DFS and OS requires further investigation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12957-017-1273-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.