title: The pattern of metastases in human breast cancer. Influence of systemic adjuvant therapy and impact on survival.
abstract: Of the 3,802 patients enrolled in the DBCG 77 protocols, 863 developed clinical recurrence within a median follow-up time of 4.9 years (range 2.0-7.0). More than 69% of these had their first recurrence confined to a single anatomical site and 12% had more than two metastatic sites. The most common sites were bone (35%), lung (23%), skin (22%), and regional lymph nodes (16%). The observation period after first recurrence was 3.6 years (range 0.8-6.4). Survival after recurrence was significantly related both to the location and the number of metastases. Patients who were given adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 134) had significantly fewer metastatic sites and significantly more frequent liver metastases than untreated patients (n = 50). Patients who received adjuvant tamoxifen (n = 154) had the same number of metastatic sites, but more often had lung metastases than untreated patients (n = 201). These results probably reflect that metastases in different anatomical locations differ with respect to sensitivity to antineoplastic treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology ONA, Finsen Institute, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kamby
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ejlertsen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Birkler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rytter
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zedeler
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rose
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D013629:Tamoxifen