[Prognostic factors in breast cancer]

The primary aim of current research into carcinoma of the breast is, through an improved knowledge of tumour biology, to achieve prognostic criteria which will enable the more specific application of existing forms of therapy. The determination of newer "prognosis factors" and their "differential-diagnostic" value, above all in the case of patients suffering from nodal-negative carcinoma of the breast, serves this aim. At present, this development is in full flow. Final results are not yet available, but they are expected in a few years. Nevertheless, the concept of prognosis differentiation by means of numerous parameters of tumour biology represents a promising approach to a more specific treatment of carcinoma of the breast.