Observational DEMETRA STUDY: survival of metastatic breast carcinoma patients after treatment with Trastuzumab

Background: Demetra, a multicentric observational retrospective study, was performed with the aim to investigate therapy with trastuzumab for HER2 metastatic breast carcinomas in conventional clinical setting. Methods: Clinical data of 440 consecutive patients treated with trastuzumab in the years 2000-2001 were collected among 22 oncologic Italian centers. Results: The overall response rate (CR+PR) was 55% with 54% as CR. In 70% of patients, trastuzumab was given as first-line treatment in combination with chemotherapy. Out of the 440, 272 patients developed progression of the disease and/or new metastases during treatment. 154 of these patients (57%) continued the treatment with the antibody, while 118 (43%) suspended trastuzumab at progression. The overall survival of these two patient subgroups was highly significantly different (p