Ten-year results of the treatment of primary operable breast carcinoma: A summary of 304 patients evaluated by the TNM system.

After all records of patients with breast cancer who received primary treatment at Memorial Hospital in 1960 were reviewed, 304 women with operable, infiltrating carcinoma were identified and classified clinically according to the TNM system of the American Joint Committee for Cancer Staging and End Results Reporting. There were 66 patients (22%) classified under Stage I, 176 (58%) under Stage II, and 62 (20%) under Stage III. There were 82 patients (27%) in whom the nodal status was misclassified clinically. The observed 10-year survival was 59.7%. The 10-year end results (with 95% confidence limits) diminished significantly in relation to advancing clinical stage of disease--90.9% (+/-6.9%) for Stage I, 57.1% (+/-7.3%) for Stage II, and 33.9% (+/-11.8%) for Stage III patients. The 10-year survival in patients with pathologically negative axillary nodes was 71.5%, and in the patients with pathologically positive axillary nodes, 48.3%.