Breast cancer recurrence: follow up after treatment for primary breast cancer

Breast cancer will affect one in 12 Australian women in their lifetime. After potentially curative treatment, it is usual for patients to be followed up for many years. However, controversies surround follow up, and its value is uncertain.

This study reviews the evidence and describes the role of routine follow up in the management of breast cancer in a tertiary hospital. By establishing how recurrence of breast cancer presents and identifying the proportion of patients with recurrence who were diagnosed as a consequence of regular follow up, the value of this system in detecting recurrence can be indirectly assessed.

A retrospective review was undertaken of all patients attending the radiotherapy outpatient clinic for treatment of invasive breast cancer in 1997. Hospital records were reviewed to ascertain patient and tumour characteristics, treatment received, site of recurrence and its mode of detection, whether patients were symptomatic at the time of recurrence, and whether they presented at a scheduled appointment.

Out of 286 patients who presented to the radiotherapy outpatient clinic, 220 were entered into the study. Recurrence was recorded in 42 patients (a complete dataset was available for 38 of these patients). In total, 74% (31/42) of recurrences were symptomatic, and 76% (32/42) presented at unscheduled appointments, the majority (17/32) of which were initiated by the patient. Only seven patients had asymptomatic recurrences.

Based on current evidence, long term routine hospital follow up after treatment for breast cancer appears to be inefficient in detecting recurrence.