Clinical Analysis of Breast Cancer

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.