Breast cancer is the third most common malignant neoplasm in Korean women. The effect of postoperative adjuvant systemic therapy in the treatment of primary breast cancer with pathologic involvement of the axillary lymph nodes has been well
established.
But, 20~30% of node-negative breast cancer patients will develop recurrent disease and risk death within 10years after initial local therapy without adjuvant treatment. Therfore, it is reasonable to identify those node-negative breast cancer
patients at
significant risk for recurrence and who could be treated with adjuvant therapies. A clinical study was perofrmed in 184 cases of primary node-negative breast cancers from January 1981 to December 1991 to study the natural course of the disease
and
to
find-out the prognostic factors.
@ES The following results were obtained:
@EN 1) During 73 months(9-143) of follow-up duration, 5-year and 10-year relapse free survival rates were 88%, 77% respectively, and overall survival rates were 89%, 88%, respectively. 10year recurrence rate was 19%.
2) Median disease-free and survival durations were 80 month, 77 months, respectively, in tumor size<2cm group and 68.5 months, 62 months respectively in tumor size 2~5cm group.
3) median disease-free and overall survival durations were 73 months, 61 months respectively, in premenopause patients and 74 months, 73 months in postmenopause patients.
4) No differences were found in disease-free and survival duration based on types of operation.
5) With adjuvant treatment, there was a decreasing tendency of systemic relapse.
In conclusion, continuous relapse was found in node- negative breast cancer even after 5 years of operation. Even if decreasing tendency of systemic relapse was induced with adjuvant treatment, no clinically useful prognostic factors were found
from
surgical and pathologic factors until now. Further study of biological factors in node-negative breast cancer is warrented.
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