Annual report of the Japanese Breast Cancer Registry for 2017

The Japanese Breast Cancer Society Registry started in 1975; it was transferred to the registry platform of the National Clinical Database in 2012. We provide the annual data and an analysis of the Breast Cancer Registry for 2017.

Patients' characteristics and pathological data of the 95,203 registered Japanese breast cancer patients from 1,427 institutes in 2017 were obtained. Trends in age at diagnosis and pathological stage were determined during the most recent 6 years (2012-2017).

The mean onset age was 60.2 years with bimodal peaks at 45-49 years and 65-69 years. A short-term trend of the most recent 6 years of data caused the second, older peak. At diagnosis, 32.4% of breast cancer patients were premenopausal. The distribution of stages revealed that the proportion of early stage breast cancer (stage 0-I) increased up to 60%. At the initial diagnosis, 2.2% of patients presented with metastatic disease. Sentinel node biopsy without axillary node dissection was performed without neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in 68.8%, and with NAC in 31.1%, of patients. For patients without NAC, lymph node metastasis was less than 3% if the tumor size was less than 1 cm. The proportion of node-negativity decreased to 79.5% when tumor size was 2.1-5 cm.

This analysis of the registry provides new information for effective treatment in clinical practice, cancer prevention, and the conduct of clinical trials. Further development of the registry and progress in collecting prognostic data will greatly enhance its scientific value.