Treatment Outcomes and Prognostic Factors of Patients with Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Review
Thanatip Tantivatana MD*, Marisa Chongthanakorn MD*, Kanisa Rongsriyam MD*, Kanyarat Katanyoo MD*
Affiliation : * Division of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Medical College and Vajira Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To determine overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and prognostic factors for survival
in patients with invasive breast cancer treated with combined-modality therapy at BMA Medical College and
Vajira Hospital.
Material and Method: The authors retrospectively analyzed the patient-tumor characteristic and treatment
outcomes of 615 patients with invasive breast cancer who were treated in our radiation oncology division
between 1997 and 2006. The authors used the Kaplan-Meier method to describe OS and DFS. The
authors analyzed associations of patients and tumor characteristics with OS using the log-rank test and Cox
proportional hazards models.
Results : The median follow-up time of 60 months, there were 46 loco-regional relapses, 108 distant relapses,
and 129 deaths. The 5-year OS and DFS were 77.5% and 73.8%, respectively. The median times to local
recurrence (LR) and to distant recurrence (DR) were 23 months (range, 10-67 months) and 24 months (range,
5-91 months). Characteristic statistically significant associated with decreased OS included lymphocascular
invasion (LVI), estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status, tumor stage, nodal stage,
lymph node involvement > 20%, and stage of disease.
Conclusion : Overall, the prognosis of patients with breast cancer was good. However, the subgroup of patients
who presented with LVI, ER, and PR negative, T3-4 stage, N3-nodal stage, lymph node involvement > 20%,
and higher stage of disease had a poor long-term outcome.
Keywords : Breast neoplasms, Prognosis, Survival analysis, Treatment outcome
