[Clinical characteristics and prognosis of very young patients with breast cancer in the southern of China].
OBJECTIVE
Even though most breast cancers occur in postmenopausal women in western countries, age <35 is one of the prognostic factors. This study was to compare the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis between premenopausal breast cancer patients aged of <35 and > or =35 in south China, and to explore the prognostic factors.


METHODS
A total of 905 consecutive premenopausal patients were evaluated, with first diagnosis of breast cancer referred to surgery at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from October 2003 to December 2006. The clinicopathologic factors and the survival rates between the very young group(aged of <35 at diagnosis) and the non-young group(aged of > or =35 at diagnosis) were retrospectively compared.


RESULTS
The overall median follow-up time was 27.77 months. The 3-year disease-free survival rate was significantly lower (78.0% vs. 89.1%, P<0.001) and the 3-year survival rate relatively lower(94.3% vs. 96.8%, P=0.10) in the very young group than in the non-young group. In addition, the 3-year survival and disease-free survival rates were significantly lower in the very young group with HR (hormone receptor)-positive than in the non-young group (P<0.05). The univariate and multivariate analysis of clinicopathologic characteristics between two groups showed that age <35 at diagnosis, axillary lymph node involvement, presence of vascular invasion, and high expression of Ki67 were risk factors for recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with non-young premenopausal patients, very young breast patients with HR-positive cancer have a worse outcome.
Yang
Hua
H
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P. R. China. wsysums@vip.tom.com.
Wang
Si-Yu
SY
Ou
Wei
W
Sun
Hai-Bo
HB
Fang
Qin
Q
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D002681:China; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D017697:Premenopause; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000097:blood; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D013629:Tamoxifen