ABSTRACT
The factors affecting the survival rate of breast-cancer patients were studied in 185 cases treated at the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Chonbuk National University from January 1987 to December 1996. The results are as follows: 1) The most prevalent age group was the 5th decade (57 cases, 30.8%). 2) The most common initial symptom was a palpable mass (167 cases, 90.3%). 3) In 134 cases (72.4%), the patients visited the hospital within 6 months of the onset of the first symptom. 4) The primary tumor was located on the left side in 101 cases (54.6%) and on the right side in 84 cases (45.4%), and the most frequent tumor location was the upper outer quadrant (113 cases, 61.1%). 5) The pathological types, according to the WHO classification, were an invasive ductal carcinoma (179 cases, 96.7%) and a medullary carcimona (22 cases, 11.9%) in that order. 6) According to the TNM system, the most common stage was stage II (100 cases, 54.1%). The overall 5-year survival rates according to pathologic stage were 96.0% for Stage I, 83.1% for Stage II, 67.8% for Stage III, and 12.5% for Stage IV. 7) The estrogen and the progesterone receptor status had no significance for the survival rate. 8) The most common type of operation was a modified radical mastectomy (Patey) (150 cases, 81.0%). 9) Axillary lymph node metastases were present in 77 cases (41.6%). 10) The most common distant metastasis was the bone (12 cases, 6.5%). 11) The overall 5-year actuarial survival rate after surgery was 76.6%. The 5-year survival rates according to the number of invaded lymph-node were 83.5% for 0 nodes, 77.6% for 1~3 nodes, 57.5% for 4~9 nodes, and 49.4% in cases of more than 10 nodes.