Infused Therapy and Survival in Older Patients Diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer who Received Trastuzumab

Abstract

We used Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare data (2000–2006) to describe treatment and survival in women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who received trastuzumab. There were 610 patients with a mean age of 74 years. Overall, 32% received trastuzumab alone and 47% received trastuzumab plus a taxane. In multivariate analysis, trastuzumab plus chemotherapy was associated with a lower adjusted cancer mortality rate (Hazard Ratio [HR] 0.54; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.39–0.74; p < .001) than trastuzumab alone among patients who received trastuzumab as part of first-line therapy. Adding chemotherapy to first-line trastuzumab for metastatic breast cancer is associated with improved cancer survival.