Survival Outcomes in Patients with Breast Cancer: Low Volume Single Center Study

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in Korean women, and its incidence has increased rapidly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes of patients with breast cancer treated at a low volume center. @*Methods@#We retrospectively analyzed 401 patients with stage I-III breast cancer at Chosun University Hospital from January 1998 to December 2013. We reviewed medical records including clinical information and pathologic reports. @*Results@#We found 401 cases of newly diagnosed breast cancer, including 5 (1.2%) male breast cancer patients. According to histological features, there were 43 cases (ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) 35 cases [8.7%], lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) 8 cases [2.0%]) of non-invasive carcinoma, 350 cases (87.3%) of invasive carcinoma, 2 cases (0.5%) of Paget’s disease, 1 case (0.2%) of malignant phyllodes tumor, 3 cases (0.7%) of sarcoma, and 2 cases (0.5%) of other types. With respect to disease stage, 117 (29.2%) patients were in stage I, 176 (43.9%) in stage II, and 78 (19.4%) in stage III. The type of surgical approaches were breast-conserving surgery (153, 38.2%), modified radical mastectomy (243, 60.6%), wide excision (4, 1.0%), and others (1, 0.2%). Five-year disease-free survival rates were 100% (stage 0), 95.4% (stage I), 91.4% (stage IIa), 75% (stage IIb), 78% (stage IIIa), 50% (stage IIIb), and 59.2% (stage IIIc). Overall survival rates were 100% (stage 0), 96.2% (stage I), 94.3% (stage IIa), 85.4% (stage IIb), 84.8% (stage IIIa), 50% (stage IIIb), and 55.5% (stage IIIc). @*Conclusion@#Although the patients were treated at a low-volume center, their favorable survival outcomes are notable. Further multicenter (low-volume centers) research is warranted.