Patients selected and study designed
PD, tumor, SD
DISEASE, TUMOR
The patients diagnosed as BC in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2013 to December 2019 were fully reviewed. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (ID: No. 2020–59). Patients submitted to NAC were selected for the following analysis. According to the Recist guidelines, version 1.1, the response to the NAC included (1) complete response (CR, the tumor disappeared totally by imaging examination and lasted for at least 4 weeks), (2) partial response (PR, decrease no less than 30% in the sum of lesions and last for at least 4 weeks), progressive disease (PD, more than 20% increase in the sum of diameters of lesions), stable disease (SD, neither met the criteria of PR nor did PD) [The flowchart of this study