title: A long-term survival pattern for breast cancer treated in a single institution.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper presents a 14-year retrospective study evaluating the survival rates and prognostic factors of breast carcinoma patients treated in private treatment center in the west coast of Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survival rates of breast cancer patients (n = 1746) who have been treated from 1995 until 2008 were analyzed. The clinical data include age, menopausal stage, oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptor status, and C-erbB-2 status as well as histopathological evaluation. AJCC (2002) was used for clinical tumor staging. Survival rates were computed using standard Kaplan-Meier methods, and the difference in survival curves was analyzed with the log-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 14-year overall survival, disease-free survival, local failure-free survival, and distant failure-free survival rates were 77%, 95%, 77%, and 94%, respectively. Early-stage patients had higher overall survival rates compared to advanced-stage patients (stage IIIb and IIIc, AJCC 2002), and early-stage patients had higher survival rates than advanced-stage patients for disease-free survival, local failure-free survival, and distant failure-free survival. The risk for cancer development increases significantly for advanced-stage patients with positive ER and PR receptor as well as C-erbB-2 receptor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence of breast cancer in Turkey is smaller compared to other European countries. Low advanced-stage patient numbers compared to high early-stage patient numbers; and very high median survival times could possibly be the result of the improvement of detection and treatment of breast cancer over the years.
authors.affiliation: Izmir Ataturk Egitim Arastirma Hastanesi, Radiation Oncology Clinics and Izmir Oncology Center, Izmir, Turkey. tcgokce@gmail.com
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gokce
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karadogan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Akcay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone