Impact of age, intrinsic subtype and local treatment on long-term local-regional recurrence and breast cancer mortality among low-risk breast cancer patients.

AIM: To evaluate the long-term prognostic impact of age, local treatment and intrinsic subtypes on the risk of local-regional recurrence (LRR) and breast cancer mortality among low-risk patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cohort study with prospectively collected data, balanced five-year age groups, including 514 Danish lymph node negative breast cancer patients diagnosed between 1989 and 1998, treated with mastectomy (N = 320) or breast-conserving therapy (BCT) (N = 194) and without systemic treatment. Intrinsic subtype approximation was performed by combining information on estrogen-, progesterone-, HER2 receptor and Ki67. RESULTS: The majority of the tumors had a luminal subtype: 70% Luminal-A (LumA), 16% Luminal-B (LumB), and 10% Luminal-HER2 + (Lum-HER2+). The distribution of intrinsic subtypes between younger (≤45 years) and older (>45 years) patients was similar. Intrinsic subtypes had no prognostic impact on the 20-year LRR risk, regardless of age. A distinct 20-year mortality pattern was observed among the younger patients: 11% of patients with LumB tumor died of breast cancer within the first five years after primary surgery, 23% of patients with Lum-HER2+ tumor died within a 5-10-year period, whereas patients with LumA tumor died with a constant low rate throughout the 20-year period. After 20 years of follow-up, patients with LumA tumor had breast cancer mortality comparable to that of patients with LumB tumor (20%) and lower than Lum-HER2+ tumor (39%). Among the older patients, no distinct mortality pattern was observed, and the 20-year breast cancer mortality was not associated with intrinsic subtypes. CONCLUSION: Among low-risk patients, 96% of the tumors were Luminal and the distribution of intrinsic subtypes between younger (≤45 years) and older (>45 years) patients was similar. The observed higher frequency of LRR among younger low-risk BCT patients was not associated intrinsic subtype. The 20-year breast cancer mortality was non-significant for LumA tumors among the older patients, whereas among the younger patients, LumA tumors had a comparable mortality with LumB, but lower than for Lum-HER2 + tumors.

Long-term follow-up of late morbidity, cosmetic outcome and body image after breast conserving therapy. A study from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG).

UNLABELLED: The Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) introduced BCT as a standard treatment in Denmark in 1990. The aim of this study was to investigate late morbidity, cosmetic outcome, and body image after BCT and to associate these outcome variables with patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 214 patients treated with BCT from 1989-2002 participated in a long-term follow-up visit comprising an interview, clinical examination, photos of the breast region and completion of a questionnaire on Body Image. RESULTS: Median follow-up time was 12 years (range 7-20). Moderate to severe fibrosis was found in 23% of patients and was associated with chemotherapy [OR 2.6, CI (1.1; 5.9), p = 0.02], large breast size [OR 3.2, CI (1.6; 6.4), p = 0.001], and smoking [OR 2.4, CI (1.1; 4.9), p = 0.02]. Patients with a satisfactory cosmetic outcome, when assessed by a clinician, were characterized by small tumors [OR 3.2, CI (1.5; 6.8), p = 0.003] and small to medium sized breasts [OR 2.0, CI (1.1; 3.5), p = 0.002]. Fifty percent of patients scored good or excellent when assessed by a clinician compared to 88% when reported by the patients themselves. Patients satisfied with their own cosmetic outcome were the younger patients [< 50 years; OR 3.2, CI (1.1; 8.6), p = 0.03] with no postoperative complications [OR 3.3, CI (1.2; 9.2), p = 0.02]. Regarding body image 15% felt less feminine, 25% felt less sexually attractive, and 28% of patients had changed their clothing habits as a result of the disease or treatment. CONCLUSION: The majority of patients were satisfied with their cosmetic outcome after BCT, whereas only half of the patients were found to have a good or excellent cosmetic outcome when assessed by the clinician. Body image was found to be only minimally disturbed in the majority of patients. The level of moderate to severe fibrosis was acceptable compared to both national and international studies with similar patient compositions.