Aim: To clarify the clinicopathological characters and treatments and prognosis in elderly breast cancer patients using the Japanese Breast Cancer Registry (JBCR) system.
We reviewed data from JBCR, which is the nation-wide registry of newly diagnosed and operated primary breast cancer patients in Japan. To clarify its characteristics, we compared elderly patients aged 75 and over (elderly) with aged from 65 to 74 (young-old; y-o) and that from 55 to 64 (post-menopausal; p-m), respectively.
In total 132,240 cases diagnosed between 2004 and 2011 were reviewed (elderly; n = 27,385, y-o; n = 43,839, p-m; n = 61,016). In histology, the proportion of mucinous carcinoma and apocrine carcinoma were higher in elderly (6.1%, 1.8%, y-o; 3.5%, 1.7%, p-m; 1.8%, 1.3%, respectively). Patients with clinical stage II and III were more frequent in elderly (45.1%, y-o; 39.0%, p-m; 39.8%). ER -positive rate was higher (76.8%, y-o; 76.3%, p-m; 72.7%) and HER2-positive rate was lower in elderly (10.5%, y-o; 12.8%, p-m; 18.6%, p < 0.001). As for surgery, the rate of breast conserving surgery (BCS) was lower in elderly (46.4%, y-o; 55.0%, p-m; 59.6%), and the rate of no surgery for axilla was higher in elderly (18.4%, y-o; 5.9%, p-m; 4.8%, p < 0.001). Irradiation after BCS was performed only in 41.3% of elderly patients, whereas y-o and p-m were 75.9%, 83.0%, respectively. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed only in 10.8% of elderly patients, y-o and p-m were 31.8%, 46.2%, respectively. Half of elderly patients (49.8%) who underwent chemotherapy were given CMF or oral 5FU. As for hormone therapy, Tamoxifen was used more frequently in elderly (18.1%, y-o; 10.6%, p-m; 9.7%). The 5 years-survival analysis is shown in Table. 238PAge ≧75 65-74 55-64 Distant disease-free survival (%) 93.1 94.3 93.1 Overall survival (%) 84.3 93.7 94.4 Breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) (%) 94.2 96.7 95.9 Other disease death (%) 48.0 35.8 20.6
Elderly patients suffered from more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Irradiation after BCS and primary systemic chemotherapy was more frequently omitted in the elderly patients. Overall, BCSS was similar among ages, but the rate of other causes of death was higher in elderly patients.
The authors.
Japanese Breast Cancer Society.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.