An Italian Delphi study to evaluate consensus on adjuvant endocrine therapy in premenopausal patients with breast cancer: the ERA project

Background: Several trials evaluated the role of ovarian function suppression for the adjuvant treatment of premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer. Based on the results of the SOFT and TEXT trials, international guidelines recommend the addition of ovarian function suppression to standard adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients at higher risk of relapse.

Methods: The ERA project (Evaluation of Risk factors in the Adjuvant treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal patients) was devised with the objective of obtaining a consensus on the identification of risk factors and the use of ovarian function suppression in the adjuvant treatment of these women. To this aim, a panel of 31 Italian oncologists with expertise in breast cancer participated in a Delphi consensus study in June 2017.

Results: A total of 29 statements related to prognostic factors, therapeutic strategies and ovarian function suppression were defined and voted to gain final consensus. For each topic we report data supporting the acquired consensus and the relevant issues discussed.

Conclusions: The SOFT and TEXT trials have changed the standard adjuvant treatment of premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer, but the available treatment options require a careful risk assessment and toxicities evaluation to ensure the greatest clinical benefit for each patient.