Breast Cancer Profile among Patients with a History of Chemo prevention

This study identifies women with breast cancer who utilized chemo prevention agents prior to diagnosis and describes their patterns of disease. Methods. Our database was queried retrospectively for patients with breast cancer who reported prior use of chemo prevention. Patients were divided into primary (no history of breast cancer) and secondary (previous history of breast cancer) groups and compared to patients who never took chemo prevention. Results. 135 (6%) of 2430 women used chemo prevention. In the primary chemo prevention group (n = 18, 1%), 39% had completed >5 years of treatment, and fully 50% were on treatment at time of diagnosis. These patients were overwhelmingly diagnosed with ER/PR positive cancers (88%/65%) and were diagnosed with equal percentages (44%) of IDC and DCIS. 117 (87%) used secondary chemo prevention. Patients in this group were diagnosed with earlier stage disease and had lower rates of ER/PR-positivity (73%/65%) than the non chemo prevention group (84%/72%). In the secondary group, 24% were on chemo prevention at time of diagnosis; 73% had completed >5 years of treatment. Conclusions. The majority of patients who used primary chemo prevention had not completed treatment prior to diagnosis, suggesting that the timing of initiation and compliance to prevention strategies are important in defining the pattern of disease in these patients