A retrospective study of breast carcinoma: causes of death and pattern of metastases.

Autopsy reports and clinical request forms between March 1973 and September 1986 were reviewed for patients with a clinical history of breast carcinoma. During this period 85 cases were identified. The causes of death and metastatic pattern of the breast carcinoma were recorded. Only 25 (29%) of these patients died as a direct consequence of this disease. Of the 85 cases in total, 28 were thought clinically to have died as a result of breast carcinoma but autopsy confirmed these findings in only 21 (75%).