Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A note on estimating local recurrence rates in clinical trials on the treatment of breast cancer

  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Local recurrence rates play an important role in the evaluation and judgement of local treatment modalities in breast cancer. In the medical literature different methods for the calculation of these rates have been used. In this note we discuss the methods, the observed differences, and the interpretation of the resulting estimates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fisher B, Anderson S, Redmond CK, Wolmark N, Wickerham DL, Cronin WM: Reanalysis and results after 12 years of follow-up in a randomized clinical trial comparing total mastectomy with lumpectomy with or without irradiation in the treatment of breast cancer. N Engl J Med 333: 1456–1461, 1995

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Christian MC, McCabe MS, Korn EL, Abrams JE, Kaplan RS, Friedman MA: The National Cancer Institute audit of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project protocol B-06, N Engl J Med 333: 1469–1474, 1995

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Fisher B, Redmond C, Poisson R, Margolese R, Wolmark N, Wickerham L, Fisher E, Deutsch M, Caplan R, Pilch Y, Glass A, Shibata H, Lerner H, Terz J, Sidorovich L: Eight-year results of a randomized clinical trial comparing total mastectomy and lumpectomy with or without irradiation in the treatment of breast cancer. N Engl J Med 320: 822–828, 1989

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Fisher B, Anderson S, Fisher ER, Redmond C, Wickerham DL, Wolmark N, Mamounas EP, Deutsch M, Margolese R: Significance of ipsilateral tumor recurrence after lumpectomy. Lancet 338: 327–331, 1991

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Fisher B, Anderson S: Conservative surgery for the management of invasive and noninvasive carcinoma of the breast: NSABP trials: National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project. World J Surg 18: 63–69, 1994

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Korn EL, Dorey FJ: Applications of crude incidence curves. Stat Med 11: 813–829, 1992

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Dignam JJ, Weissleld LA, Anderson SJ: Methods for bounding marginal survival distributions. Stat Med 14: 1985–1998, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Harris JR, Morrow M: Local management of invasive breast cancer. In: Harris JR, Lippman ME, Morrow M, Hellman S (eds) Diseases of the Breast, Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, 1996, pp 487–547

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kaplan EL, Meier P: Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 53: 457–481, 1958

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kalbfleisch JD, Prentice RL: The Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data. Wiley, New York, 1980

    Google Scholar 

  11. Aalen OO, Johansen S: An empirical transition matrix for non-homogencous Markov chains based on censored observations. Scand J Statist 5: 141–150, 1958

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gelman R, Gelber R, Henderson JC, Coleman CN, Harris JR: Improved methodology for analyzing local and distant recurrence. J Clin Oncol 8: 548–555, 1990

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Marubini E, Valsecchi MG: Analysing Survival Data from Clinical Trials and Observational Studies. Wiley, Chichester, 1995

    Google Scholar 

  14. The German Breast Cancer Study Group (GBSG): Therapy of small breast cancer — four-year results of a prospective non-randomized study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 34: 1–13, 1995

    Google Scholar 

  15. Arriagada R, Rutqvist LR, Mattsson A, Kramar A, Rotstein S: Adequate locoregional treatment for early breast cancer may prevent secondary dissemination. J Clin Oncol 13: 2869–2878, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Marubini E, Mariani L, Salvadori B, Veronesi U, Saccozzi R, Merson M, Zucali R, Rilke F: Results of a breast cancer surgery trial compared with observational data from routine practice. Lancet 347: 1000–1003, 1996

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Borner M, Bacchi M, Goldhirsch A, Greiner R, Hardor F, Castiglione M, Jungi WF, Thürlimann B, Cavalli F, Obrecht JP, Leyvraz S, Alberto P, Adam H, Varini M, Loehnert T, Senn HJ, Metzger U, Brunner K, for the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research: First isolated locoregional recurrence following mastectomy for breast cancer: results of a phase III multicenter study comparing systemic treatment with observation after excision and radiation. J Clin Oncol 12: 2071–2077, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Veronesi U, Marubini E, Del Vecchio M, Manzari A, Andreola S, Greco M, Luini A, Merson M, Saccozzi R, Rilke F, Salvadori B: Local recurrences and distant metastases after conservative breast cancer treatments: partly independent events. J Natl Cancer Inst 87: 19–27, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Clark RM, McCullock PB, Levine MN, Lipa M, Wilkinson RH, Mahoney LJ, Basrur VR, Nair BD, McDermot RS, Wong CS, Corbett PJ: Randomized clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of breast irradiation following lumpectomy and axillary dissection for node-negative breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 84: 683–689, 1992

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Liljegren G, Holmberg L, Adami HO, Westman G, Graffman S, Bergh J, Uppsala-Orebro Breast Cancer Study Group: Sector resection with or without postoperative radiotherapy for stage I breast cancer: five-year results of a randomized trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 86: 717–722, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group: Effects of radiotherapy and surgery in early breast cancer — an overview of randomized trials. N Engl J Med 333: 1444–1455, 1995

    Google Scholar 

  22. Schnitt SJ, Hayman J, Gelman R, Eberlein TJ, Love S, Mayzel K, et al.: A prospective study of conservative surgery alone in the treatment of selected patients with stage 1 breast cancer. Cancer 77: 1094–1100, 1996

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Morrow M, Harris JR, Schnitt SJ: Local control following breast conserving surgery for invasive cancer: results of clinical trials. J Natl Cancer Inst 87: 1669–1673, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Arriagada R, Kramar A, Le Chevalier T, De Csemoux H for the French Centers' Lung Group: Competing events determining relapse-free survival in limited small-cell lung carcinoma. J Clin Ducol 10: 447–451, 1992

    Google Scholar 

  25. Sullivan Pepe M, Mori M: Kaplan-Meier, marginal or conditional probability curves in summarizing competing risks failure time data? Stat Med 12: 737–751, 1993

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu DY: Non-parametric inference for cumulative incidence functions in competing risks studies. Stat Med 16: 901–910, 1997

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics, University of Freiburg, Germany

    Gabi Schulgen, Claudia Schmoor, Willi Sauerbrei & Martin Schumacher

Authors
  1. Gabi Schulgen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Claudia Schmoor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Willi Sauerbrei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Martin Schumacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schulgen, G., Schmoor, C., Sauerbrei, W. et al. A note on estimating local recurrence rates in clinical trials on the treatment of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 49, 87–91 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005969923607

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005969923607

Search

Navigation