Dr. Perez Discusses Obesity as a Predictive Marker

Edith A. Perez, MD, deputy director, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Florida, director, Breast Program, Serene M. and Frances C. Durling Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School, discusses a large study of 3017 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer that examined if body mass could predict outcomes.

The study found that obese patients experienced worse outcomes than normal weight or overweight patients. These patients experienced larger tumors size, greater lymph node involvement, and worse tumor characteristics overall. However, the study noted that response to trastuzumab (Herceptin) remained the same, regardless of the patient's body mass index.

Perez notes that it is reassuring that the response to trastuzumab remains the same but recommends that patients maintain a healthy weight, since the tumors had worse characteristics overall with an increased BMI.