Pathological, biological and clinical characteristics, and surgical management, of elderly women with breast cancer.
For this retrospective study, we divided 3814 patients with invasive operable breast cancer into five groups based on their age at diagnosis. Univariate analysis showed that the elderly women had larger tumours with more axillary node involvement and lymphovascular invasion, more estrogen- and progesterone-positive tumours, lower grades and proliferative indices, and were less likely to be c-erbB2 positive. They were more likely to have been diagnosed in a symptomatic state and to have undergone mastectomy, and less likely to have undergone mammary reconstruction or axillary dissection, or to have a family history of breast cancer. The multinomial regression model showed that pT, pN, ER, PgR, the type of diagnosis, and a family history were independently associated with each other. The results of this study show that elderly women are more likely to have larger and more frequently N+ tumours, but these are biologically less aggressive and usually seem to receive less invasive surgical treatment.
Department of Medical Oncology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. annamaria.molino@univr.it
Annamaria
A
Molino
Monica
M
Giovannini
Alessandra
A
Auriemma
Elena
E
Fiorio
Anna
A
Mercanti
Marta
M
Mandarà
Alessia
A
Caldara
Rocco
R
Micciolo
Michele
M
Pavarana
Gian Luigi
GL
Cetto
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000032:analysis; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D011374:Progesterone / Q000032:analysis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D004967:Estrogens; D011374:Progesterone; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases