Improved survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving combination chemotherapy.

Groups of patients with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer who were consecutively registered into a breast cancer clinic beginning January 1956 (210 patients), January 1966 (210 patients), and January 1975 (251 patients), were analyzed to determine the impact on survival of the various treatment modalities utilized in each decade. Comparisons of survival were made among subgroups of patients with similar prognostic features. Except for patients with very poor performance status, all subgroups showed a significantly improved survival in the 1970s compared with the earlier decades. Combination chemotherapy was considered to be the major factor in the survival improvement.