Survival after first recurrence in breast cancer

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the significance of primary stage, histopathological grade, disease-free survival and site of first relapse on survival after first recurrence. The study included 1621 female breast cancer patients admitted between 1970 and 1975. The patient material was analysed by unifactorial life table methods and the multifactorial Cox regression analysis. The primary stage and histopathological grade maintained a significant prognostic value also after relapse. Survival after first recurrence was dependent on the disease-free interval and site of first relapse, too. If the disease-free survival was over 5 years, 44% of the patients were still alive after 7 years from recurrence. Of the patients with a disease-free survival shorter than 2 years, only 10% were alive after 7 years from recurrence. Survival was significantly better after locoregional relapse than after distant relapse, but the difference levelled off within 7 years. The prognosis of axillary relapse was best and that of liver and brain metastases poorest. Regression analysis confirmed the importance of primary stage, site of recurrence and histopathological grade as prognostic variables for survival after first recurrence.