title: Women age < or = 35 years with primary breast carcinoma: disease features at presentation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of the current study was to describe a population of young patients with breast carcinoma, their characteristics at the time of diagnosis, and the association of these characteristics with disease recurrence and survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred fifty-two women age < or = 35 years with breast carcinoma were registered at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) between 1990 and 2002. The relation between clinicopathologic factors and disease recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) was assessed. Cox regression analysis was used to identify independent survival predictors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age of the patients was 32 years. Most of the patients were white, and 20% were obese. Approximately 50% reported oral contraceptive use, 34% reported a family history of breast carcinoma, and 5% reported a family history of ovarian carcinoma. Sixty-nine percent of tumors were nuclear Grade 3 (using the modified Black's nuclear grading system), 52% had positive estrogen receptors, and 48% had positive progesterone receptors. HER-2/neu status was available in 60% of tumor specimens and 34% were HER-2/neu positive. The median follow-up was 36 months. There were 185 disease recurrences and 84 deaths. RFS was significantly shorter in patients who reported a family history of ovarian carcinoma (P < 0.0001) and in those who had hormone receptor-negative tumor specimens (P = 0.001). OS was significantly shorter in patients who reported a family history of ovarian carcinoma (P = 0.001), those who had hormone receptor-negative tumor specimens (P < 0.0001), or those with > nuclear Grade 3 tumor specimens (P = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This young population with breast carcinoma was found to have more aggressive biologic features. Hormone receptor negativity and a family history of ovarian carcinoma were associated with shorter RFS and OS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. agonzalez@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Angulo
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Broglio
authors.forename: Shu-Wan
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kau
authors.forename: Yesmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Eralp
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erlichman
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valero
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Theriault
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Booser
authors.forename: Aman U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Buzdar
authors.forename: Gabriel N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Hortobagyi
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D013781:Texas; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone