Prediction of disease relapse in patients with breast cancer

Among 157 breast cancer patients with median follow-up term of 120 months, we analyzed relationships of clinicopathologic factors and several prognostic factors determined histochemically with disease relapse, and we determined risk scores. Lymph-node status (p=0.0001) and microvessel count (MVC) (p=0.026) in all patients, p53 protein (p=0.0019) and MVC (p=0.001) in node-negative patients had independently significant prognostic value in predicting disease relapse. The risk scores based upon these factors had powerful predictive values for disease relapse (p=0.0001). Using these factors, we could simply and accurately identify patients with high-risk for relapse. Moreover, it might be useful for making decisions on adjuvant therapy.