Relationship between primary breast tumor receptor status and patient survival.

For a minimum of 3- months, 250 women who underwent mastectomy for primary breast cancer have been followed up. ER status has had a pronounced effect upon disease-free interval and survival: in patients with node involvement ER-positive (ER+) tumors carry a better prognosis. Of patients with ER-positive primary tumors, 43% underwent objective response to their secondaries for a minimum period of six months. This compares with a response of only 18% for ER-negative (ER-) tumors. In patients who had previously received endocrine therapy and on relapse were treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy, objective response rate to chemotherapy was better in patients in whom the primary tumor had been ER-, but not significantly so.