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Comparison of clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses between bilateral and unilateral breast cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

The clinical significance of bilateral breast cancer is unclear and its influence on prognosis is controversial. We compared the characteristics and prognosis of bilateral breast cancer and unilateral breast cancer.

Methods

Our study included 4,183 patients with breast cancer who were treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2007. Bilateral breast cancer was categorized as synchronous (within 3 months) or metachronous (diagnosed after 3 months of first cancer). SPSS was used for data analysis.

Results

106 (2.5%) and 31 (0.7%) patients were diagnosed with metachronous and synchronous bilateral cancer. Women with bilateral cancer had more frequent postmenopause, HER-2 negativity, and advanced disease than in patients with unilateral cancer. Young age at diagnosis, invasive lobular carcinoma, ER/PR negativity, HER-2 positivity, radiation, large tumor size (T > 5 cm), and stage III disease of the first cancer were risk factors for contralateral cancer. The 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 76 and 83% for unilateral cancer, while 32 and 72% for bilateral cancer (P = 0.000 for both).

Conclusions

Bilateral cancer was associated with shorter disease-free survival and overall survival than unilateral cancer. The prognosis of metachronous bilateral cancer, especially those diagnosed within 2 years after the first cancer was significantly worse than synchronous bilateral cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Eleventh Five Technology Major Project (Grant Number: 2008ZX09312-002) and the Research Award Fund for Outstanding Young researchers at the Sun Yat-sen Cancer Center.

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road, East, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Yan-Xia Shi, Qing Xia, Rou-Jun Peng, Zhong-Yu Yuan, Shu-Sen Wang, Xin An, Ye Cao, Yu-Ting Tan, Ying Jin, Xiu-Yu Cai, Yue-Li Sun, Xiao-Yu Teng, Dong-Geng Liu & Wen-Qi Jiang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road, East, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Yan-Xia Shi, Qing Xia, Rou-Jun Peng, Zhong-Yu Yuan, Shu-Sen Wang, Xin An, Ye Cao, Yu-Ting Tan, Ying Jin, Xiu-Yu Cai, Yue-Li Sun, Xiao-Yu Teng, Dong-Geng Liu & Wen-Qi Jiang

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  1. Yan-Xia Shi
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  2. Qing Xia
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  3. Rou-Jun Peng
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  6. Xin An
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  7. Ye Cao
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  8. Yu-Ting Tan
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  13. Dong-Geng Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dong-Geng Liu or Wen-Qi Jiang.

Additional information

Yan-Xia Shi and Qing Xia contributed equally to this work.

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Shi, YX., Xia, Q., Peng, RJ. et al. Comparison of clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses between bilateral and unilateral breast cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 138, 705–714 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-011-1141-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-011-1141-7

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