title: Impact on Survival of Regular Postoperative Surveillance for Patients with Early Breast Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of regular postoperative surveillance to improve the prognosis of patients with breast cancer after curative surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 4,119 patients who received curative surgery for breast cancer at Samsung Medical Center between January 2000 and September 2008. Patients were divided into two groups (group I, regular postoperative surveillance; group II, control group) according to their post-therapy follow-up status for the first 5 years after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 3,770 patients selected for inclusion, groups I and II contained 3,300 (87%) and 470 (13%) patients, respectively. The recurrence rates at 5 years for groups I and II were 10.6% and 16.4%, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.67 to 1.09; p=0.197). The 10-year mortality cumulative rates were 8.8% for group I and 25.4% for group II (hazard ratio, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.35; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis for recurrence-free survival (RFS), age over 40 years (p < 0.001), histologic grade 1 (p < 0.001), and pathologic stage I (p < 0.001) were associated with longer RFS but not with follow-up status. Multivariate analysis for overall survival (OS) revealed that patients in group I showed significantly improved OS (hazard ratio, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.37; p < 0.001). Additionally, age over 40 years, histologic grade I, and pathologic stage I were independent prognostic factors for OS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regular follow-up for patients with breast cancer after primary surgery resulted in clinically significant improvements in patient OS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Haesu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Moonjin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Ae
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Center, Samsung Cancer Research Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Insuk
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Won Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Eon
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Hyuck
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Im
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yeon Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011182:Postoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Breast neoplasms; Epidemiology; Recurrence