To assess the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in carcinoma breast patients by high-frequency ultrasound.

The current single blind, observational study was conducted at rural tertiary healthcare center of Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital from October 2018 to Sept 2020. We incorporated breast cancer patients with TNM stages IIIA and IIIB who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with Cyclophosphamide/Adriamycin/5 FU and Paclitaxel respectively followed by standard surgical procedure modified radical mastectomy. Successive ultrasound examination of the breast malignancy and the axilla was done after 21 days of either of any neoadjuvant chemotherapy for 3 cycles. Assessment of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was applied in terms of reduction in the breast tumour volume on ultrasound and percentage of tumour response calculated by Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumours (RECIST). Data were analysed using SPSS version 24.0.

Higher frequency of patients was invasive ductal breast cancer. In our study, Paclitaxel group showed better response in terms of CR and PR than CAF group. Our study noticed a consistent decrement in tumour volume after every cycle of either CAF or Paclitaxel NACT. Axillary ultrasound was able to predict the response of axillary lymph nodes in terms of increase or decrease in number and morphological changes after 3 cycles of NACT with similarity on final histopathology.

It can be concluded from the results of the present study that high-frequency ultrasound is appropriate tool for assessment of response of primary breast malignancy and lymphnode metastasis in the axilla after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Efficacy of neo-adjuvant therapy depends on the used regimens. There are contradictory findings regarding relative efficacy of these regimens. Accordingly, present study assessed the relative efficacy of Anthracyclines, Taxanes and added targeted therapies in neo-adjuvant setting simultaneously with a focus on tumor response and breast conserving surgery among breast cancer patients. The network meta-analysis model was used. Ranking of treatment was done by surface under cumulative ranking curve for each regimen. Out of 1286 screened records obtained by searching PubMed and Cochrane register of controlled trials, a total of 34 studies randomizing 12,630 breast cancer patients were included. Network meta-analysis for pathological complete response (pCR) revealed Addition of targeted therapies especially Trastuzumab for HER2+ breast cancer and Bevacizumab for HER2- breast cancer along with Anthracyclines and/or Taxanes based chemotherapy significantly improves pCR but with increased haematological toxicities. All the regimens performed similar in terms of breast conserving surgery rates.