Kathleen C. Toomey, MD, medical oncologist and medical director, Steeplechase Cancer Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, discusses the importance of clinical trials evaluating de-escalated treatment strategies in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Oftentimes, it is easier to enroll patients with HER2-positive breast cancer to clinical trials because some are evaluating de-escalated treatment strategies to determine the optimal amount of treatment a patient should receive, Toomey says. If patients obtain a complete response with a de-escalated approach, it is understood that the cancer was very responsive to the treatment, Toomey explains.

Patients tend to question how they can tell whether an adjuvant treatment is working, Toomey continues. In trials evaluating neoadjuvant therapy, patients know that the treatment is working because they are either cancer-free or have residual disease after surgery, Toomey says. If patients are cancer-free in the adjuvant setting, they don’t require additional chemotherapy. This underscores the importance of evaluating de-escalated treatment approaches in clinical trials because patients could possibly receive less therapy and, therefore,experience fewer adverse effects, Toomey concludes.

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Kathleen C. Toomey, medical oncologist, discusses the importance of clinical trials evaluating de-escalated treatment strategies in HER2-positive breast cancer. 


Dr. Toomey on the Importance of De-Escalation Clinical Trials in HER2+ Breast Cancer 

Kathleen Toomey, MD, who specializes in hematology and medical oncology and practices at the Steeplechase Cancer Center, discusses the results of the TAILORx trial, which reported that some patients with early-stage breast cancer can avoid chemotherapy.

The latest presentation on the results of TAILORx revealed that every patient does not necessarily benefit from chemotherapy. The results of these finding will allow oncologists to give the right therapy to the right patient at the right time. What was surprising to Toomey was that the younger population of patients, those under the age of 50, still may not be able to avoid chemotherapy even with a relatively low oncotype recurrence score.

Helping a higher percentage of patients with chemotherapy and not giving chemotherapy to patients who can safely avoid it is a wonderful thing, says Toomey.

Kathleen Toomey, MD

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Dr. Toomey on the Importance of De-Escalation Clinical Trials in HER2+ Breast Cancer

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