[The long-term prognosis of breast cancer. Retrospective study of 973 patients].

In this study the outcome after 40 years of primary breast cancer therapy was analysed. 973 patients admitted between 1943-1964 were examined. At the time of evaluation 900 (92.5%) of these patients were deceased. The mean survival time was 7.02 years. Tumor stage was the most important prognostic factor. In stage I patients after 40 years 17% of the patients were still alive. In stage II patients the prognosis was significantly worse. After 3.5 years 50% of the patients were dead. Young patients under 40 years of age showed a significantly lower survival rate during the first 5 years after therapy. The histological type did not show any influence on the outcome. In 91.5% of all patients a radical mastectomy was performed. Therefore the different operative procedures can not be compared in this study. 560 patients received postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy. Patients with radiotherapy showed a higher survival rate only during the first 5 years. After this time the survival rate of patients with radiotherapy was significantly lower. This was found already after 2 years in stage I patients. 85% of the deceased patients died with or because of breast cancer. 98.2% of breast cancer related deaths were observed during the first 10 years. After 26 years no breast cancer death was observed. Considering the 7.5% surviving patients at least 22% of the breast cancer patients did not show a breast cancer recurrence over the 40 year period. This demonstrates that the biological characteristics of breast cancer can not be explained by the theory of B. Fisher or the Halsted theory alone.