Five years survival of 1112 patients with cancer of the breast: prognostic value of clinico-morphological parameters including the histochemically evaluated receptor status. An Italian cooperative study.

In 1112 patients operated for carcinoma of the breast in 13 different Italian Institutions between 1980 and 1984, and then coded according to several traditional parameters and to the histofluorescent evaluation of the estrogen receptor status (Rf test), by the end of 1988 there were 245 deaths related to cancer and 52 deaths for unspecified cause. Mortality increased from 13 to 83% from stage 1 to stage 4. Within stage 1 and 2 survival was related to the tumor size and the extent of lymph-node involvement. The prognosis was significantly worsened on the whole series (but not on N--patients) when the tumor had irregular borders, more than one nodule and it was angioinvasive. The Rf test had a long lasting prognostic value only if positive in more than 50% of the neoplastic cells, especially in stages 1 and 2, in patients younger than 35 and in the perimenopausal age, in tumors smaller than one cm. and larger than two cm. even with lymph-node involvement.