Is complete pathological response truly a complete response in breast cancer? Authors Bushra Rehman Department of Breast Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Sara Rehman Department of Breast Imaging, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Sameen Mohtasham Department of Breast Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Toqeer Zahid Department of Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Albash Sarwar Department of Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Muhammad Asad Parvaiz Department of Breast Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan DOI: https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.5574 Abstract Objective: To check if complete pathological response in breast cancer is a good prognostic factor. Method: The retrospective study was conducted at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised data from January 2012 to December 2015 of all patients who received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and had no distant metastasis at diagnosis. Mastectomy patients were excluded. Complete pathological response was defined as no detectable tumour cell in breast and axilla on pathological examination of the resected specimen. Tumour characteristics and 5-year disease free survival and overall survival were recorded. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. Results: Of the 353 patients whose data was evaluated, 91(25.8%) had complete pathological response. Mean age at diagnosis was 43+/-10 years. Among them, 62(68%) patients had grade III tumour, 39(42.9%) were negative for oestrogen receptor, 58(63.7%) were negative for progesterone receptor, 25(27.5%) were positive for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, and 26(28.6%) patients were triple negative. Overall, 28((30.7%) patients had recurrence; 20(71.4%) had distant metastasis, 6(21.4%) had local recurrence, and 2(7.14%) had contralateral cancer. The 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates (Kaplan-Meier Survial curve) were 70% (28 patients-recurrence) and 87% (15 patients-deaths), respectively. Conclusion: Despite complete disappearance of tumour, a significant number of patients developed recurrences. Key Words: Complete pathological response, Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, Survival, Metastasis. Author Biographies Sara Rehman, Department of Breast Imaging, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Senior Instructor Woman Imaging Sameen Mohtasham, Department of Breast Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Resident Department of surgey Toqeer Zahid, Department of Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Resident surgery department Albash Sarwar, Department of Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Residend Surgery Department Muhammad Asad Parvaiz, Department of Breast Surgery, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan Consultant Breast Surgeon Downloads Full Text Article Published 2023-02-15 How to Cite Rehman, B., Sara Rehman, Sameen Mohtasham, Toqeer Zahid, Albash Sarwar, & Muhammad Asad Parvaiz. (2023). Is complete pathological response truly a complete response in breast cancer?. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 73(2), 280–289. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.5574 More Citation Formats ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 73 No. 2 (2023): February Section Research Article