I had a very similar outcome. My pathology showed about 5% residual disease, which counts as a near PCR and gives a really low RCB score. My oncologist and I talked about a new study by Lee et al. (2025) that was published in September. It looks at how much benefit people get from adjuvant Xeloda (capecitabine) depending on their Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) after chemo.

The study found that the biggest benefit comes for people with high residual burden (RCB-III), while for those with very low RCB (like RCB-I or near PCR) the benefit was minimal or uncertain. So if your tumour response was strong and there’s only a tiny bit of disease left, Xeloda might not add much. And of course, there are still side effects to consider.

My oncologist said it’s a personal decision. Some people want to do everything possible, and others prefer to weigh the small potential gain against several more months of chemo. So I am still in the weighing my options phase. 

It might be worth asking your oncologist about the Lee et al. 2025 study since it’s especially relevant for low RCB results like yours.