title: A model of long-term survival following adjuvant therapy for stage 2 breast cancer.
abstract: Following adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, some patients will die of this tumour while the remainder will die of other causes. Deaths from breast cancer tend to follow a lognormal distribution, while deaths from other causes can be approximated by national demographic data. By combining these two survival models, we have generated an age-specific method for estimating the impact of treatment on overall long-term survival. Treatment was designed to operate by one of two mechanisms: an increase in cured fraction, or an increase in median tumour-related survival time among uncured patients. This analysis revealed that, for young and middle-aged patients, an increase in cured fraction has substantially greater long-term clinical impact than an increase in median survival time. Unfortunately, the non-parametric tests traditionally used in prospective clinical trials cannot distinguish between these two mechanisms of action.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Medical Center, Louisville, KY.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Gamel
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D002423:Cause of Death; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data