Surgical treatment of carcinoma of the breast: II. Prognostic factors influencing relapse rate.

This is a study of 408 patients who had mastectomy for clinical stages I, II, and early III carcinoma of the breast during 1971-1980. Analysis of disease-free probabilities up to 5 yr showed that the number of positive axillary nodes was the most important prognostic factor. Size of primary tumor was the second most useful factor, with best separation of disease-free rates using 4 cm as a dividing line. Patients with colloid carcinoma and other less common lesions had much better prognosis than those with infiltrating ductal, lobular, or medullary carcinomas. Discriminating analysis also showed that information about the number of positive axillary node alone gave the best prediction of possibility of developing recurrence (overall accuracy, 75%).