[A hospital cancer registry. Breast cancer, 1977]

The clinical histories of the patients studied in the National Institute of Oncology in 1977 were reviewed in relation to breast cancer in women, that was found in 52.5% of them. 50% were comprised between 40 and 60 years of age, 68.3% were diagnosed within the first year after the presentation of clinical symptoms. 30.6% of the patients had a localized tumor, while all the others showed regional lymph node involvement and/or distant metastases. Malignancy was confirmed histologically in 90 per 100 of the cases; 41.5% were carcinomas, 27.9% corresponding to the infiltrating duct carcinoma type. Therapy could be applied to 80% of the patients with a curative purpose, while in 20% was only palliative. Including those women with previous treatments in other medical centers before coming to the National Institute of Oncology, the treatment applied was surgery in 90%, radiotherapy in 60% and chemotherapy in 20% of the cases. Five-year survival was 43% (28% clinically free of disease, and 15% with symptoms of disease).