Adjuvant! Online: mind the gap!

The objective of this study was to compare the actual outcome and prognosis estimated by the program Adjuvant! Online for breast cancer in Itajaí (Brazil). It is a retrospective cohort study, post-hoc analysis, in which 214 patients of three institutions were compared in real overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) during a 3-year follow-up, and estimated OS and DFS with the program for 10 years by Adjuvant! Online, using the following variables: age, clinical stage, histological grade, lymph node involvement, immunohistochemical subtype and type of adjuvant therapy. The DFS and OS rates in the sample observed and estimated by the program demonstrated correspondence, with the curves trailing beneath the same pattern, due to shorter "real" follow-up (3 versus 10 years). The only group that demonstrated a marked decline in DFS in relation to the real prognosis was that of patients younger than 40 years.