Metastatic breast cancer patients with lung or liver metastases should be distinguished before being treated with fulvestrant

Abstract Background Endocrine therapy is the preferred treatment for patients with hormone receptor ‐positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). While visceral metastasis is a negative prognostic factor, few studies have distinguished between the prognoses of patients with metastases at different visceral sites. Patients and methods In total, 398 patients receiving fulvestrant 500 mg at a single center over a 6‐year period were analyzed. Logistic regression models were used to identify the prognostic factors associated with progression‐free survival (PFS). Kaplan‐Meier analysis was used to compare the PFS of patients with lung and liver metastases. Results Baseline visceral metastases were present in 233 patients, including 138 with lungw/o liver metastases (lung metastases without liver involvement), 51 with liverw/o lung metastases (liver metastases without lung involvement) and 41 with lung and liver metastases. The median PFS was 6.8 months (5.6 and 9.2 months for visceral and nonvisceral metastases, respectively, P = .028). PFS was longer in patients with lungw/o liver metastases than in those with liverw/o lung metastases or lung and liver metastases (9.6, 3.7 and 3.2 months, respectively, P