title: Long-term observational follow-up study of breast cancer diagnosed in women ≤40 years old.
abstract: The prognosis of young breast cancer patients has been considered to be much poorer than in older patients. Two hundred and sixty-eight premenopausal women with a median follow-up time of 74.0 months were included in the study. 33.5% had oestrogen receptor-negative and 34.6% progesterone receptor-negative tumours. 15.2% of the tumours were HER2-positive. Five-year breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) was 81.1% and the corresponding 10-year figure was 72.3%. 91.8% of all relapses occurred within seven years of surgery. Among the ≤35-year-old women, only 2 of 38 (5.3%) relapsed beyond seven years of follow-up. Lymph node ratio was the most significant independent prognostic factor of poor disease-free survival and BCSS. This study revealed a high relapse rate in the youngest women as early as during the first few years after diagnosis, although their prognosis as a whole was surprisingly good.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, University of Oulu, PO Box 22, FIN-90029, Oulu University Hospital, Finland. peeter.karihtala@oulu.fi
authors.forename: Peeter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karihtala
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Winqvist
authors.forename: Risto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bloigu
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jukkola-Vuorinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis; D047368:Tumor Burden
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D066246:ErbB Receptors