Metastatic breast cancer treated by chemotherapy: Trends in survival and costs in two patient cohorts treated in 1994–1998 and 2003–2006
6552 Background: Although new chemotherapy agents have been approved during the past decade for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC), it is unclear whether their use has changed the outcome of patients. This study assessed the clinical and economic impacts of these drugs. Methods: We undertook a retrospective study of women diagnosed with MBC during two periods of time, 1994–1998 and 2003–2006 and compared overall survival data between the two groups. Female patients with MBC were identified from the Centre Léon Bérard (Lyon, France) database. Tumor and treatment characteristics, costs of chemotherapy, and patient outcome were compared using the X2 test, the log rank test, and Cox regression analysis. Overall survival was calculated from the date of MBC diagnosis to the date of death or last follow-up. Chemotherapy-related costs were calculated according to the 2008 pricelist of French cancer centers. Results: A total of 301 MBC cases were identified. The median follow-up of living patients was 3.87 years. No survival difference was observed between the two periods, with a median overall survival of 2.76 years for the 1994–1998 cohort (149 patients) and 2.68 years for the 2003–2006 cohort (152 patients) (HR 1.04, 95%CI 0.70–1.55; p = 0.83). The median number of lines of chemotherapy was similar in the two groups (=3). The median cost of chemotherapy per MBC patient was 3 times higher in 2003–2006 (25,320 €) than in 1994–1998 (8,865 €; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, prognostic factors for overall survival were the number of metastatic sites (HR 2.06; p < 0.0001), bone metastases (HR 0.67; p = 0.007), and hormone receptors (HR 0.56; p = 0.002). Survival was identical in HER-2 positive and HER-2 negative patients (HR 0.99; p = 0.99). Conclusions: Despite the implementation of numerous novel chemotherapeutic agents, the overall survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer has not improved over the last decade on the scale of our institution, whereas the costs of chemotherapy have significantly increased. No significant financial relationships to disclose.