Risk factors of recurrence in small-sized, node negative breast cancer in young women: A retrospective study in Chinese population

Abstract

We aimed to investigate risk factors of local and distant recurrence in small-sized, node negative breast cancer in women <35 years in a Chinese cohort. Between January 1994 and January 2007, 107 patients with pathologically confirmed small-sized (≤1 cm), node negative breast cancer who did not receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy were included. The 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) was estimated according to different prognostic variables. With a median time of 60 months (range, 8-60 months) follow-up, local and distant recurrence were observed in 25 cases (23. 4%). By univariate analysis, HER-2 positivity, triple negative (TN), and high Ki-67 index (≥14%) were risk factors of a lower RFS (hazard ratio (HR) 6. 680, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2. 350-18. 985, P<0. 0001 for HER-2 positive; HR 4. 769, 95%CI 1. 559-14. 591, P=0. 006 for TN; HR 6. 030, 95%CI 2. 659-13. 674, P<0. 0001 for high Ki-67 index). Patients with grade 3 tumors had a lower RFS (HR 2. 922, 95%CI 1. 096-7. 791, P=0. 032) compared with those with grade 1 or grade 2 tumors. By multivariate analysis, HER-2 positivity (HR 10. 204, 95%CI 3. 391-30. 704, P<0. 0001), TN (HR 10. 521, 95% CI 3. 152-35. 113, P<0. 0001) and high Ki-67 index (HR 10. 820, 95%CI 4. 338-27. 002, P<0. 0001) remained risk factors of RFS. In this cohort, HER-2 positivity, triple negative and high Ki-67 index were independent risk factors of RFS in young patients with T1a,bN0 breast cancer. Subsequent pregnancy did not affect RFS. © 2013 The Author(s).