Changes in the treatment and prognosis of breast cancer

The data of 331 women with breast cancer treated in the Second Department of Surgery, Helsinki University, during the period 1976-1980 (patient material, treatment, prognostic factors) is evaluated and compared with an equally large patient material treated during the period 1951-1961 in the same hospital. A breast lump was the main symptom in 94% and the tumour was found by the patient in most cases. Only two patients were younger than 30 years. The median delays to the first medical contact and to operative treatment were 30 and 20 days respectively. The delay had no influence on the prognosis. Also, the age of the patients and the localization of the tumour had no significant effect on the prognosis. Simple mastectomy with axillary lymph node excision was the main operative treatment in the present material whereas Halsted's radical mastectomy was frequently performed in the previous study. Operative radicality was the same in both studies. The prognosis has improved in all clinical stages. The present relative five year survivals in stages I-IV were 95, 83, 53 and 18%, whereas in the previous study they were 75, 58, 41 and 0%, respectively. The improvement in stage II-IV breast cancers is probably due to advances in radio- and chemotherapy. However, the improvement in the prognosis of stage I and to a lesser extent of stage II breast cancers cannot be explained on this basis alone. Neither do the shorter delays in treatment fully explain the differences in the prognosis. The most frequent sites of metastasis were bone and lung/pleura where almost half of the total metastasis occurring during the follow-up were found.