Clinicopathological characteristics of recurrence more than 10 years after surgery in patients with breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND As most recurrences in patients with breast cancer occur in the first 5 years after surgery, recurrences more than 10 years after surgery are not very frequent, and their recurrent pattern and prognosis have not been thoroughly analyzed in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS A review of 1,114 patients with breast carcinoma surgically treated between January 1980 and December 1993 was carried out. There were 284 (25.5%) patients with recurrence. Out of these 284 patients, 12 (4.4%) whose recurrence occurred more than 10 years after surgery were entered in this study. RESULTS No prognostic factors that specifically predicted recurrence more than 10 years after surgery were identified. From the time of recurrence, the 5-year survival rate was 78.9% and 27.0% in patients with breast carcinoma recurring more and less than 10 years after surgery, respectively (p<0.01). CONCLUSION The response rate to therapy in patients with recurrence more than 10 years after surgery is high, and such patients have significantly better prognosis compared with other patients with recurrence, which means that aggressive therapy may be appropriate management for patients with very late recurrence.