ABSTRACT
Introduction: The value of clinical use of tumor markers for prediction of breast cancer recurrence in follow-up or level of response to treatment is still controversial
Objective: In this study, the role of tumor markers in breast cancer recurrence was evaluated
Materials and Methods: One hundred and forty-one breast cancer patients were entered into the study and followed up for 132 months [mean= 34.0, SD= 28.0]. The mean age of the patients at time of diagnosis was 47.1 [SD= 12.3] ranging from 23 to 81 years. Most patients [51%] were presented with stage II breast cancer. 81% of the patients underwent modified radical mastectomy and the remaining 19% had breast preservation surgery. The association between clinical recurrence with age, tumor size, nodal involvement, stage, type of surgery and pathology, CA15.3, CEA, P53, ER, PR, and HRE-2 status were examined by using the forward conditional logistic regression analysis
Results: Recurrence occurred in 22% of patients during the follow up time. The results indicated that recurrence was significantly predicted by the status of CA15.3 [odds ratio= 6.1, 95% CI= 1.62-23.1, P= 0.007]
Conclusion: The findings showed that independent of age and other known prognostic factors CA 15.3 is an individual factor for prediction of recurrence in breast cancer patients
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Nowadays breast-conserving surgery [BCS] where only a part of breast tissue is extracted is a standard and accepted method of treating breast cancer under certain condition. BCS use in Iran is very limited
Objective: This study aims to evaluate general surgeons' practice regarding BCS and its related factors
Materials and Methods: Structured questionnaires were sent by mail to 300 general surgeons whose addresses were extracted from address list of general surgeons in Iranian Medical Council. The questionnaire included general surgeons' characteristics such as age, sex, work experience, practicing in a university hospital, number of breast cancer patients treated per year, preference of surgeons about performing mastectomy versus breast conserving surgery [BCS] and the reasons for avoiding breast conserving surgery
Results: In all, 83 surgeons returned back the completed questionnaires. The response rate was 27%. Results showed that only 19% of surgeons were performing BCS in their routine practice. Of all evaluated factors, only surgeon's experience that was defined as "the number of patients treated annually" had a statistically significant correlation with performing BCS [P= 0.01]. There was no association between other mentioned variables and the use of BCS. The most frequent reasons noted for avoiding BCS were uncertainty about conservative therapy results [46%], uncertainty about quality of available radiotherapy services [32%] and probability of patients' incompliance for radiotherapy [32%]
Conclusion: These findings indicated that BCS is not routinely selected by Iranian surgeons as the first and the best treatment modality. Further research to evaluate patients' outcome treated by BCS in Iran, with regard to available medical facilities and cultural factors [patients' compliance] is recommended