Clinicopathological Characteristics and Prognosis of Breast Cancer in Young Women Under 35 Years of Age

Hwang, Ui Kang; Son, Byung Ho; Ahn, Sei Hyun

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Generally, it has been thought that the prognosis of breast cancer in young women is worse than that in their older counterparts. This, however, remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of breast cancer in the young age group.
METHODS
One hundred and thirty-three patients under 35 years of age (younger group) at the time of diagnosis were selected from among the of total 936 female breast-cancer patients treated at the Breast Cancer Clinic of Asan Medical Center from July 1989 to December 1996, and they were compared with the 803 patients over 35 years of age (older group).
RESULTS
Inadequately diagnosed cases of breast cancer, including a dense breast on mammography, were more frequent among the younger group (p=0.0005). The median tumor size of invasive ductal carcinomas was larger (3.0 cm vs 2.4 cm). The rate of lymph-node metastasis was high (58.6% vs 46.1%). The rate of early breast cancer (stage 0 and I) was lower (25.3% vs 42.6%). The 5-year disease-free survival rate was less (56.6% vs 73.7%, p=0.037), but no differences in operative methods, 5-year overall survival rate, and disease-free survival rate based on the different stages were observed between the two groups.
CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that in the younger group (under 35 years of age), the breast cancer was more advanced, the lymph-node metastasis rate was higher, and the 5-year disease-free survival rate was significantly lower, but the 5-year overall survival rate was not significantly different from that in the older group.