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The overall survival of breast cancer patients without adjuvant therapy

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Abstract

Purpose

There are little data regarding the overall survival (OS) of patients without adjuvant systemic therapy, because most patients have been subject to standardized systemic therapies. We evaluated the baseline risk to facilitate making decisions about adjuvant therapy.

Patients and methods

A total of 1835 breast cancer patients who did not receive adjuvant systemic therapy between 1964 and 1992 were retrospectively evaluated. We investigated the 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) and OS according to the number of metastatic lymph nodes, pathological T classification, stage, and estrogen receptor (ER) status.

Results

Survival curves showed that as the number of metastatic lymph nodes, pathological T classification, and staging increased, the 10-year OS and DFS decreased. In univariate and multivariable analyses, the number of metastatic lymph nodes was significantly associated with the DFS and OS, while in a univariate analysis, the pathological T classification and stage were significantly associated with the DFS and OS. ER positivity was a good prognostic factor for the 5-year DFS. However, between 6 and 7 years after surgery, ER negativity was a better prognostic factor than ER positivity.

Conclusion

We showed survival rates of patients without adjuvant therapy according to TNM classification and ER status. This information can aid in treatment selection for doctors and patients through a shared decision-making approach.

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Funding

We report no financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, 1-1 Kanokoden, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8681, Japan

    Sakura Onishi, Masataka Sawaki, Junko Ishiguro, Ayumi Kataoka, Madoka Iwase, Kayoko Sugino, Yayoi Adachi, Naomi Gondo, Haruru Kotani, Akiyo Yoshimura, Masaya Hattori & Hiroji Iwata

  2. Division of Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan

    Keitaro Matsuo

  3. Department of Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

    Yasushi Yatabe

Authors
  1. Sakura Onishi
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  2. Masataka Sawaki
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  3. Junko Ishiguro
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  4. Ayumi Kataoka
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  5. Madoka Iwase
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  6. Kayoko Sugino
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  7. Yayoi Adachi
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  8. Naomi Gondo
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  9. Haruru Kotani
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  10. Akiyo Yoshimura
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  11. Masaya Hattori
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  12. Keitaro Matsuo
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  13. Yasushi Yatabe
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  14. Hiroji Iwata
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masataka Sawaki.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Onishi, S., Sawaki, M., Ishiguro, J. et al. The overall survival of breast cancer patients without adjuvant therapy. Surg Today 49, 610–620 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-019-01775-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-019-01775-z

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