Impact of initial therapy on survival in recurrent breast cancer

From 1976 to 1984, 135 recurrent breast cancer patients were treated with chemotherapy and/or additive endocrine therapy and their initial therapies and survival time were analyzed. Survival from the time of recurrence in these patients was longer than historical control patients (median 26 vs. 14 months). There was no statistical difference amongst the four groups which were subdivided by initial therapies after recurrence (tamoxifen alone, tamoxifen + tegafur, tamoxifen + other chemotherapy and chemotherapy). Therefore, the type of initial therapy did not affect the survival among these patients.