ABSTRACT
Purpose@#The biggest concern related to ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is local recurrence and recurrence patterns. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between clinicopathological factors and relapse in patients treated with DCIS. @*Methods@#We reviewed medical records of 104 patients who were diagnosed as DCIS between January 1999 and December 2015 at a single institute. We compared and analyzed clinicopathological factors such as age at diagnosis, preoperative lesions on ultrasonography, preoperative tumor markers, operation methods in the breast, histological grade, nuclear grade, resection margin, comedonecrosis, estrogen receptor/ progesterone receptor expression, human epidermal factor receptor 2eu expression, Ki-67, postoperative implementation of adjuvant hormonal therapy, and radiotherapy by dividing them into recurrent and non-recurrent groups. @*Results@#Seventeen patients (16.3%) of 104 patients relapsed in the ipsilateral or contralateral breast. The median follow-up period of non-relapsed group was 4.9 years (range, 0.5–19.15) and the median follow-up period of relapsed group was 3.5 years (range, 1.4–14.13). Clinicopathological factors that were significantly related to relapse were nuclear grade (p=0.022) and Ki-67 (p=0.025) based on the results of chi-square or Fisher’s exact analysis. In multivariate analysis using logistic regression, Ki-67 (p=0.021) was significantly associated with DCIS relapse. @*Conclusion@#This study suggested that the higher Ki-67 over 14% was strongly associated with DCIS relapse.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To investigate the characteristics of HER2-positive breast cancer according to HER2 low (2+) or high (3+) classification using immunohistochemistry (IHC). @*Methods@#Data were collected from 205 HER2-positive breast cancer patients in the final assay, regardless of IHC or in situ hybridization (ISH). We thus classified patients into two groups: HER2 2+/low and HER2 3+/high based on the IHC assay. We subsequently compared the clinical and pathological characteristics between groups. @*Results@#The median patient age was 49 years in the HER2 2+/low group and 53 years in the HER2 3+/high group. We observed a significantly lower Allred score for estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) (0-6) (p<0.001), less lymphatic invasion (LI), (p=0.010), neural invasion (p=0.041), higher Ki-67 (p=0.001), and lower Bcl-2 (p<0.001) in the HER2 3+/high group than in the HER2 2+/low group. Lymph node recurrence was more frequently observed in the HER2 2+/low group than in HER2 3+/high group (p=0.005). Disease-free survival (DFS) was better in the HER2 3+/high group than in the HER2 2+/low group (p=0.028), but there were no significant differences in overall survival between the groups (p=0.233). @*Conclusion@#The HER2 3+/high group was associated with lower ER and PR expression, less LI, higher Ki-67, and lower Bcl-2 than that in HER2 2+/low group in HER2-positive breast cancer. Furthermore, compared to the HER2 2+/low group, the HER2 3+/high group had an improved DFS.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To investigate the characteristics of HER2-positive breast cancer according to HER2 low (2+) or high (3+) classification using immunohistochemistry (IHC). @*Methods@#Data were collected from 205 HER2-positive breast cancer patients in the final assay, regardless of IHC or in situ hybridization (ISH). We thus classified patients into two groups: HER2 2+/low and HER2 3+/high based on the IHC assay. We subsequently compared the clinical and pathological characteristics between groups. @*Results@#The median patient age was 49 years in the HER2 2+/low group and 53 years in the HER2 3+/high group. We observed a significantly lower Allred score for estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) (0-6) (p<0.001), less lymphatic invasion (LI), (p=0.010), neural invasion (p=0.041), higher Ki-67 (p=0.001), and lower Bcl-2 (p<0.001) in the HER2 3+/high group than in the HER2 2+/low group. Lymph node recurrence was more frequently observed in the HER2 2+/low group than in HER2 3+/high group (p=0.005). Disease-free survival (DFS) was better in the HER2 3+/high group than in the HER2 2+/low group (p=0.028), but there were no significant differences in overall survival between the groups (p=0.233). @*Conclusion@#The HER2 3+/high group was associated with lower ER and PR expression, less LI, higher Ki-67, and lower Bcl-2 than that in HER2 2+/low group in HER2-positive breast cancer. Furthermore, compared to the HER2 2+/low group, the HER2 3+/high group had an improved DFS.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive subtypes of breast cancer. However, we have often experienced that triple positive breast cancer (TPBC) shows more aggressive clinical features than TNBC. In this retrospective study, we aimed to examine the differences in clinical courses between TNBC and TPBC. @*Methods@#Using medical records and clinical data, we selected patients with breast cancer who met the criteria for the two groups, TNBC and TPBC, based on the expression or absence of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). We then compared these groups with respect to clinical and pathological variables, such as patient age at diagnosis, TNM stage, number of tumors, involvement of resection margin, operation methods, histologic grade (HG), nuclear grade (NG), and lymphatic invasion (LI). We also compared the disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) outcomes between the groups. @*Results@#Seventy patients with TNBC and 91 with TPBC were identified among a total of 628 patients. In univariate analysis, TPBC was significantly more frequently associated with lower HG (p=0.001), lower NG (p=0.003), LI (p=0.001), and a Ki-67 index ≤20% (p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, a lower Ki-67 index (p=0.031) and LI (p=0.022) were identified as significant and independent factors contributing to DFS. In a survival analysis over time, the TPBC showed a worse OS than TNBC 5 years post-treatment for breast cancer. Consequently, the TPBC group had definite worse 10-year DFS (p=0.012) and showed relatively lower OS rate (p=0.058), than the TNBC group. @*Conclusion@#Our results demonstrate considerable differences in long-term post-treatment survival of patients with TPBC and TNBC. Further studies to determine the proper management of both types of breast cancer and an accurate prognostic evaluation method are warranted.