The Breast : official journal of the European Society of Mastology
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Review Meta Analysis
Trastuzumab for patients with HER2 positive breast cancer: delivery, duration and combination therapies.
With the exception of endocrine therapy, no other systemic treatment of patients with breast cancer has reached such a magnitude of beneficial effect as trastuzumab. This targeted agent (monoclonal antibody) is associated with a significant improvement in both disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in women with HER-2 positive breast cancer when given in combination with or in sequence to adjuvant chemotherapy. This has been confirmed in a recent Cochrane meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), including 6 adjuvant and 2 neoadjuvant studies (NSABP B-31, NCCTG N9831, BCIRG 006, HERA, FinHer, PACS-04, Buzdar and NOAH), with data collection until February 2010. ⋯ The HannaH phase III trial compared the subcutaneous (SC) to the intravenous (IV) formulation of trastuzumab. The former was proven non-inferior to the latter, although the incidence of serious adverse events was slightly higher in the SC arm. The authors concluded that SC trastuzumab, administered at a fixed dose of 600mg over 5min, is a valid alternative option, with the potential for human and economic savings in clinical practice.