Prognostic factors in breast cancer: the value of the Nottingham Prognostic Index for patients treated in a single institution.
OBJECTIVE
The Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) is used to predict survival in patients with breast cancer. This index is based on tumor size, lymph node stage, and histological grade and allows the stratification of patients into three different prognostic groups. Our aim was to verify the effect of some prognostic variables on survival and to establish the independent influence of each of these variables by a survival regression analysis. We applied the NPI to the same group of patients to assess its predictive power and reproducibility.


METHODS
We evaluated 311 women with breast cancer treated between January 1993 and December 1998.


RESULTS
In a multivariate analysis (Cox proportional hazard model), only size, lymph node involvement, and histological grade were independent prognostic factors. The survival curves obtained after applying the NPI were similar to those for the factors with independent prognostic significance derived from our multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
The NPI allows us to accurately predict prognosis, and we advocate its standardized use.
Okugawa
Homa
H
Department of Surgery, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Japan.
Yamamoto
Daigo
D
Uemura
Yoshiko
Y
Sakaida
Noriko
N
Yamada
Masanori
M
Tanaka
Kanji
K
Kamiyama
Yasuo
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
D011960:Receptors, Estrogen