Pattern of relapse in breast cancer cases

ABSTRACT

This retrospective study included 957 female breast cancer patients. A metastatic investigation work was completed for all cases and all of them proved to be metastatic. Patients with incomplete data were excluded. Local recurrence in the chest wall and the axillary lymph nodes were studied. The local recurrences were 8.48%. It was found that the incidence of local recurrence increased in the late stages of the disease which was statistically significant. Also, the number of positive lymph nodes proved to be one of the significant factors affecting the local recurrence. Distant metastasis occurred in 31% of the patients. The most common sites of metastasis were bones, lungs, liver, supra clavicular lymph nodes and the brain; while, T3 and T4 had the highest incidence of distant metastasis and the nodal status significantly affected the distant metastasis as the highest incidence was observed in N2 cases