title: Breast cancer in the elderly.
abstract: The study population was derived from 482 patients with breast cancer treated at the Department of Oncology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, between 1992 and 1999. The main purpose of our study was to evaluate differences in breast cancer characteristics and treatment in a population of women with breast cancer older than 65 years compared to younger women group (less than 65 years). We have analyzed disease parameters (stage of the disease, size of primary tumor, tumor differentiation grade and steroid receptor status) and parameters associated to treatment modalities (surgery, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy) in both age groups. In older women, we found significantly higher rates of tumors grade 1 (p = 0.0049), tumors > 2 cm and tumors with a high steroid receptor status (p = 0.0013). Evaluation of treatment modalities showed that in older women a significantly higher proportion were treated with hormonal therapy (p < 0.001) compared to younger patients. In evaluation of clinical outcome after a median follow-up of 58 months, in older women the cumulative 5-year disease-free survival rate was 65%, while cumulative 5-year survival was 83%, which was not significantly different from the younger women (p > 0.005).
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Zagreb University Hospital Center, Zagreb School of Medicne, Croatia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Podolski
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Markulin Grgić
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kukura
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Budisić
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators