Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is one of the standardized treatment methods for breast cancer. Pathological assessment and standardized evaluation after neoadjuvant therapy are very important. The main differences between the different criteria of pathological assessments are their definitions of pathologic complete response (pCR), which is currently generally defined as ypT₀/is ypN₀, that is, residual ductal carcinoma in situ in the breast after chemotherapy, without residual cancer cells in the axillary lymph nodes. This paper introduces the histological response criteria of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society and compares it with the Residual Cancer Burden system of MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Millar and Payne method of the United Kingdom, and the pathologic evaluation standard recommended by Tianjin Cancer Hospital. A large number of clinical studies show that the DFS and OS of breast cancer patients with pCR are significantly higher than those of non-pCR patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. However, pCR has different meanings in different breast cancer subtypes and pCR may not be the only predictor in neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

术前新辅助化疗能降低乳腺癌的临床分期，增加手术适应证，并提高保留乳房率，为治疗乳腺癌提供新的可能。pCR被认为是评价新辅助化疗预后的主要终点，但该评价方式过于简单，且缺乏对术后治疗的指导意义。目前，连续性残余肿瘤负荷(RCB)评分已逐步推广。研究表明该评分能用于评估新辅助化疗与乳腺癌分子分型的关系。笔者就RCB评分在乳腺癌新辅助化疗效果评价中的应用和发展前景进行综述。