Breast cancer in 65-year-old or older patients: clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.
BACKGROUND
The number of 65-year-old or older patients with breast cancer is increasing. Here we describe the clinicopathological features and prognosis of these patients.


METHODS
We reviewed the records of 1,651 consecutive patients aged > 50 years with a first diagnosis of invasive breast cancer who were referred to surgery between March 1999 and December 2005. Of these patients, 224 were aged ≥ 65 years (group I) and 1,427 were aged 51-64 years (group II).


RESULTS
Compared with patients of group II, patients of group I had a higher percentage of tumors classified as estrogen receptor (ER) positive (p = 0.009), progesterone receptor (PR) negative (p = 0.044), and with a Ki-67 labeling index ≥ 20% of the cells (p = 0.015). There was no difference between the 2 groups for pT, pN, histology, endocrine therapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. The 5-year survival of group I was 80.1% as compared with 86.2% for group II (p = 0.018).


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with patients aged between 51 and 64 years, patients aged ≥ 65 years have a greater chance of having tumors that are ER positive, PR negative, with a Ki-67 labeling index ≥ 20% of the cells and a significantly poorer prognosis.
Department of Breast Surgery, Affiliated Third Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Lei
L
Yao
You-Xue
YX
Zhang
Li-Hong
LH
Wang
Xian-Yu
XY
Zhang
Wei
W
Yan
Da
D
Pang
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D015995:Prevalence; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000097:blood*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000097:blood*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone