Table 3.
Clinical down-staging effects of the FEC and PE regimens on locally advanced breast cancer
| T stage | FEC arm [cases (%)] | P value | PE arm [cases (%)] | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | After NACT | Baseline | After NACT | |||
| Total | 151 | 151 | <0.001 | 142 | 142 | <0.001 |
| 0 | 0 (0.00) | 5 (3.31) | 0 (0.00) | 12 (8.45) | ||
| 1 | 0 (0.00) | 46 (30.46) | 0 (0.00) | 62 (43.66) | ||
| 2 | 106 (70.20) | 77 (50.99) | 86 (60.65) | 55 (38.73) | ||
| 3 | 43 (28.48) | 9 (6.62) | 52 (36.62) | 5 (3.52) | ||
| 4 | 2 (1.32) | 5 (2.65) | 4 (2.82) | 2 (1.41) | ||
| Missing | 0 (0.00) | 9a (5.96) | 0 (0.00) | 6b (4.23) | ||
FEC tri-weekly 5-fluorouracil–epirubicin–cyclophosphamide regimen, PE weekly paclitaxel–epirubicin regimen
aOf the 9 patients, 2 had migrated to other cities and were not restaged, 5 declined further treatment and were not restaged, and 2 were lost to follow-up
bOf the 6 patients, 5 declined further treatment and were not restaged, and 1 was lost to follow-up