Influencia de las características tumorales del cáncer de mama en mujeres menores de 35 años en el pronóstico de la enfermedad

Background and objective

Two per cent of breast cancers develop in women aged 35 years old or younger. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the histological characteristics of the tumor and axillary involvement on the prognosis of the disease.

Methods

We performed a retrospective study of 71 women aged 35 years old or younger diagnosed with breast cancer in the 12 de Octubre Hospital from 1983 to 2000. A survival curve was designed using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results

The most important prognostic factor was tumoral extension at diagnosis. A total of 66.7% of the patients in initial stage IV died within 5 years of follow-up. For stages 0 and I, 92.3% and 100% of the patients, respectively, were alive and had no evidence of disease. The most frequent histological type was infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Outcome was not influenced by tumoral type or histological grade. Recurrence was more frequent in patients with positive receptors than in those with negative receptors. One of the most important prognostic factors was axillary involvement. Recurrence occurred in 71.4% of the patients with nodal involvement compared with 31.4% of those without nodal invasion. The greater the number of affected nodes, the higher the risk of recurrence. Alteration of P53 and c-erb 2 were poor prognostic factors.

Conclusions

Tumoral size and stage, axillary involvement and the number of affected nodes were associated with a higher risk of recurrence and worse 5-year outcome. The presence of positive receptors was also related to an unfavorable outcome. Fifty percent of women lived for more than 15 years.