Retrospective study of adjuvant capecitabine in women with TNBC and residual disease after carboplatin-containing neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype characterized by early relapse and limited therapeutic options. Carboplatin added to anthracycline/taxane neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) raises pathologic complete response rates. The role of adjuvant capecitabine following NACT containing carboplatin is unclear, particularly in real-world settings. A retrospective study at the University of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil) included 184 women with TNBC treated with anthracycline, taxane, and carboplatin-based NACT. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was achieved in 40% of the patients, and was associated with significantly better disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with non-pCR. Among 111 patients with residual disease, 44 received adjuvant capecitabine. Adjuvant capecitabine did not significantly improve DFS or OS. The authors conclude that in this real-world cohort, achieving pCR after NACT was the strongest determinant of favorable prognosis, while adjuvant capecitabine was not associated with improvement of survival outcomes.