High rates of breast conservation for large ductal and lobular invasive carcinomas combining multimodality strategies

The literature reports low rates of breast conservation after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for operable breast cancers not amenable to initial breast-conserving surgery. This study aims to compare the outcome of lobular vs ductal carcinomas after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Between 1989 and 1999, 750 patients with clinical stage II/IIIA ductal (672) or lobular (78) invasive breast carcinomas were treated at the Institut Curie with primary anthracycline-based polychemotherapy followed by either breast conservation (surgery and/or radiotherapy) or mastectomy. Median follow-up was 10 years. Clinical response to primary chemotherapy was significantly worse for lobular than for ductal carcinomas (47 vs 60%; P =0.04), but only histological grade remained predictive in multivariate analysis. Breast conservation was high for both ductal and lobular carcinomas (65 and 54%; P =0.07), due, in part, to the use of radiotherapy, either exclusive or preoperative, for respectively 26 and 40% of patients. The lobular type had no adverse effect, neither on locoregional control nor on overall survival, even in the group of patients treated with breast conservation.