title: The tumor-to-breast volume ratio (TBR) predicts cancer-specific survival in breast cancer patients who underwent modified radical mastectomy.
abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women globally, and tumor size measured as the largest diameter of the tumor focus is currently used in tumor-lymph node-metastasis (TNM) staging for prognosis and treatment decisions. The present study utilized the tumor-to-breast volume ratio (TBR) to evaluate the relative tumor size and determined the prognostic impact of TBR on survival in patients with breast cancer. Two thousand twenty-five consecutive breast cancer patients who underwent modified radical mastectomy between January 2002 and December 2008 at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center were enrolled in this retrospective study. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess the prognostic effect of TBR on cancer-specific survival (CSS), and univariate log-rank test and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model were performed to identify independent prognostic factors. The optimal cutoff value of TBR was determined to be 1.70 %, and 1473 and 552 patients were categorized to low-TBR and high-TBR groups, respectively. In the whole patient cohort, CSS was significantly shorter in the high-TBR group (110.2 vs 128.5 months, P < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that TBR was an independent prognostic factor of CSS in breast cancer patients (hazard ratio (HR) 1.489, 95 % CI 1.130-1.961, P = 0.005). High TBR was independently associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. This variable may serve as a valuable parameter to predict the outcomes of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiahuai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaojia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shuaijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiangsheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, 510060, People's Republic of China. xiexm@sysucc.org.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D015411:Mastectomy, Modified Radical / Q000401:mortality*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D047368:Tumor Burden; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Breast cancer; Mastectomy; Prognosis; Tumor-to-breast volume ratio