Weekly taxane–anthracycline combination regimen versus tri-weekly anthracycline-based regimen for the treatment of locally advanced breast cancer: a randomized controlled trial

Cancer Communications

Table 3 Clinical down-staging effects of the FEC and PE regimens on locally advanced breast cancer

T stage	FEC arm [cases (%)]		P value	PE arm [cases (%)]		P value
T stage	Baseline	After NACT	P value	Baseline	After NACT	P value
Total	151	151	<0.001	142	142	<0.001
0	0 (0.00)	5 (3.31)		0 (0.00)	12 (8.45)
1	0 (0.00)	46 (30.46)		0 (0.00)	62 (43.66)
2	106 (70.20)	77 (50.99)		86 (60.65)	55 (38.73)
3	43 (28.48)	9 (6.62)		52 (36.62)	5 (3.52)
4	2 (1.32)	5 (2.65)		4 (2.82)	2 (1.41)
Missing	0 (0.00)	9^a (5.96)		0 (0.00)	6^b (4.23)

FEC tri-weekly 5-fluorouracil–epirubicin–cyclophosphamide regimen, PE weekly paclitaxel–epirubicin regimen
^aOf the 9 patients, 2 had migrated to other cities and were not restaged, 5 declined further treatment and were not restaged, and 2 were lost to follow-up
^bOf the 6 patients, 5 declined further treatment and were not restaged, and 1 was lost to follow-up