title: Contralateral breast carcinoma: an assessment of risk and prognosis in stage I (T1N0M0) and stage II (T1N1M0) patients with 20-year follow-up.
abstract: Among 644 patients with a small (T1) primary breast carcinoma who were followed up for a median of 18.2 years, subsequent contralateral breast carcinomas were detected in 57 of 610 women (9%) who had a contralateral breast at risk. The average annual hazard rate for contralateral carcinomas was 8/1000 patients at risk per year without significant fluctuations throughout the 20 years of follow-up. Recurrences were caused by 9 of 57 (16%) subsequent contralateral carcinomas, and 4 of the 57 patients (7%) died of recurrent contralateral carcinomas. Contralateral carcinomas were responsible for 5.1% (9 of 176) of all recurrences of breast carcinomas and 2.6% (4 of 153) of breast carcinoma deaths. Surveillance of the contralateral breast must continue throughout a patient's lifetime. Detection and treatment of subsequent lesions at an early stage is a beneficial result of follow-up, especially in women whose first carcinoma is likely to have been cured.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y. 10027.
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Groshen
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kinne
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hellman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors