title: Cancer of the breast: a study of 1520 consecutive patients operated on between 1960 and 1980.
abstract: A retrospective study was carried out of 1520 consecutive patients with breast cancer operated on at the Hôpital Notre-Dame in Montreal between 1960 and 1980. Age and hormonal status of the patient, and duration, size, location, histologic type and stage of the tumour were studied. The authors grouped the patients according to four types of surgical treatment: radical (487 patients), modified radical (497 patients) and simple (220 patients) mastectomies and conservative procedures (316 patients). Adjuvant treatments included radiotherapy in 60%, hormone therapy in 4.7% and chemotherapy in 6.7% of patients. Overall survival at 5, 10 and 15 years was 71.3%, 58.7% and 51.1%; in patients with stage I disease, survival rates were, respectively, 86%, 78% and 72%; rates for patients with stage II disease were 74%, 62% and 53%. The population characteristics and survival rates were similar to those reported by others. The four types of treatment did not produce significantly different survival rates in patients with stage I lesions. However, this was not the case in patients with stage II and III lesions in whom simple mastectomy (McWhirter procedure) was associated with significantly worse results. Finally, this study confirmed the prognostic importance of stage, size of the tumour and degree of axillary lymph-node involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Université de Montréal, QC.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Péloquin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poljicak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falardeau
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gravel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moïsescu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Péloquin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011792:Quebec; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate