Trends in use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy in patients with clinically node-positive breast cancer in Europe

Analysis among the first 500 patients included in the European prospective TAXIS study (August 2018 – June 2022) investigated the use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy for clinically node-positive breast cancer. Most patients had grade 2 or 3 HR+/HER2- disease. The study found substantial heterogeneity in the use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy between European countries, with highest frequency of use in Austria (55.2% of patients) and lowest freqency of use in Hungary (18.2%). Use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy increased from 20.0% in 2018 to 46.7% in 2022. The authors conclude that there is a need for the development of well-defined recommendations for HR+/HER2- breast cancer.