Prognostic significance of hormone receptors in early recurrence of breast cancer.

A retrospective analysis of 155 patients with primary infiltrating breast cancer was carried out to determine the prognostic significance of hormone receptor values and analyze the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy. Estrogen receptor-negative patients were found to have a significantly higher recurrence rate than estrogen receptor-positive patients (p less than 0.005). No difference was found based on the progesterone receptor value. The data strongly suggest a favorable response to adjuvant chemotherapy administered on the basis of the estrogen receptor value alone.