FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PROGNOSIS IN HUMAN-BREAST CANCER .1. PREDICTORS FOR RATE OF EVOLUTION AND RELAPSE

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 30  (4) , 475-483
Abstract
The associations of several clinical factors with general survival, percentage of relapse and survival in the group of patients who relapses were analyzed in a series of 399 Stage II breast cancer patients operated and irradiated at the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology in Havana [Cuba]. In another series of 187 patients these associations were studied in regard to the presence of estradiol receptors in the tumors. Factors related to the presence of estrogen receptors were unrelated to the percentage of relapse in long-term follow-up. Age and menstrual status were related to the presence of estradiol receptors and to survival inside the group of patients who relapsed but were unrelated to the percentage of relapses. Lymph node status was mainly associated with the percentage of relapses but not related to the presence of estradiol receptors. Other factors (parity and age at 1st childbirth), related to the presence of receptors, did not clearly influence prognosis. Lactation influenced positively survival inside the relapse group without any clear association with hormone receptors. Results are discussed in terms of a model considering particular host-tumor interaction: the probability of relapse and the speed of evolution of the systemic disease, mutually independent, but determining the prognosis. [Prediction of the fate of individual breast cancer patient is one of the most important problems in establishment of therapeutic plans and control of the disease. This is of special importance in Stage II patients in which decisions need to be taken about the intensity of adjuvant treatment.].