PURPOSE: To determine the effects of new breast cancer treatments and to provide a baseline for monitoring the development of breast cancer in Korean women, we conducted an analysis at our institution to determine long-term clinicopathological features, survival rates, and prognostic factors. MATERIALA AND METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed 2,403 patients between Sep 1994 and Dec 2002, who underwent breast cancer surgery at Samsung Medical Center in Korea. Demographic data, pathologic records and surgical records were collected. RESULTS: After a median follow-up duration of 121.9 (range: 2-158.1) months, the 5-year disease free survival (DFS) was 82.8% and the 10-year DFS was 74.7%. The 5-year and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates were 89.4% and 82.9%, respectively. Using multivariate analyses, we determined that the nodal status (p < 0.001), angioinvasion (p < 0.001), positive PR (p < 0.001), and C-erb-B2 (p < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for OS. The frequency of breast conserving surgery was 33.9% before Dec 1999, and increased up to 44.1% by year Dec 2002. CONCLUSION: Most of the prognostic variables and clinical characteristics of the Korean breast cancer patients were similar to those reported for Western populations. However, the age distribution in Korean patients seemed to be different from that in patients from Western countries.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Breast Neoplasms/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meiers Estimate ; Korea ; Mastectomy/*methods/statistics & numerical data ; Mastectomy, Segmental/*methods/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVETo study the relative factors of local recurrence and distant metastasis after breast-conserving therapy (BCT) for patients with breast cancer.

METHODSThe data on 174 patients with primary breast cancer who had been treated by BCT were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were followed up for 12 to 196 months with a rate of 97.13% (169/174).

RESULTSNine patients showed local recurrence and 14 patients, distant metastasis. The 3-year recurrence rate was 3.79% (5/132), the the 5-year metastasis rate was 10.99% (10/91), and the 5-year survival rate was 92.31% (84/91). Those 3-year recurrence rate for patients without radiotherapy (12.12%) was significantly higher than that with radiotherapy (1.01%), (chi(2) = 5.61, P < 0.05). In patients with node-positive, the the 5-year metastasis rate for patients without chemotherapy (44.44%) was higher than that for those with chemotherapy (6.67%), (P < 0.05). Positive marginal status was associated with local recurrence (P < 0.01). Age at diagnosis of patient with breast cancer (

CONCLUSIONSRadiotherapy must be given after BCT. The patients with positive margin should be treated by re-excision or by mastectomy. Those with young age, node- positive and histological grade III should receive adjuvant chemotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Breast Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult