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Alain Marre (Professeur honoraire, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes) Jean Nicod nous a quittés le 2 avril 2021 à Nans les Pins, village situé au pied du massif de la Sainte Baume, montagne qu’il a tant parcourue, tant étudiée ! Je ne suis pas, à proprement parler, un élève de Jean Nicod. C’est avec Pierre Gabert que j’ai fait ma thèse d’Etat. Cependant, il fut toujours présent, attentif et bienveillant à tous mes travaux. Il devint ainsi une sorte de guide, pour moi. La première fois qu...

Purpose Optimal duration of adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer remained to be investigated rigorously for the standard regimens in widespread use in North America (doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide, AC) and Europe (5-fluorouracil/epirubicin/cyclophosphamide, FEC). Whether six cycles of FEC 100 present an advantage, or not, compared with only four cycles was tested directly in a phase III prospective multicentre trial. Patients and methods Between 2002 and 2006, 1515 women between 18 and 65°years of age, with node negative N(−) high-risk early-stage breast cancer, were included in the study following breast surgery and axillary lymph node dissection or procedure by sentinel node technique. Inclusion in the study required tumour size T ≥ 1 cm and at least one of the high-risk factors: T > 2 cm, negative oestrogen receptor/progesterone receptor (ER– and PR–), Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) grade II or III and age ≤ 35°years. Patients were randomly assigned to either six FEC 100 (Arm A) or four FEC 100 (Arm B). The trial was powered to detect an absolute difference ≥6% in disease-free survival (DFS) at 5°years. Results At 6.1°years median follow-up, with 91 (12%) events recorded in Arm A versus 106 (14%) in Arm B, no statistically significant risk increase was associated with four versus six FEC 100: DFS (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.18; CI 95% [0.89–1.56], P = .24) and overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.39; CI 95% [0.91–2.13], P = .12). Conclusion Differences in chemotherapy duration did not induce notably different outcomes in our cohort of high-risk patients. Clinical trial registry number NCT00055679 , Agence National de Securite du Medicament (ANSM) – France.

1 - Un esprit independant, heritier et continuateur de la grande tradition de la geomorphologie francaise Ces lignes ont ete ecrites deliberement a deux mains, par ceux qui ont ete non seulement des collegues mais surtout des amis pendant plus de 30 ans, tantot proches pour ce qui est de sentiments communs, tantot eloignes en raison du siege de nos universites (Caen, Modene, et Strasbourg). Elles ne pretendent pas presenter un souvenir exhaustif de ce qui fut la figure scientifique et humaine...