Bilateral breast cancer

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17073 Background: The clinical significance of bilateral breast cancer is unclear and its influence on prognosis is controversial. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of bilateral breast cancer on the prognosis compared with unilateral breast cancer and examine clinicopathologic characteristics of Bilateral and Unilateral breast cancer. Methods: 108 patients included in this study from Jan 1980 to Dec 2005 and all information regarding medical and family history of breast cancer came from medical records and questionnaires. Results: There were 108 patients with bilateral breast cancer and its incidence was 2.3% of total breast cancer. The incidence of bilateral breast cancer after 1998 was 3.5% (90/2548) compare with the incidence before 1998 (0.9%). The mean age of patients with bilateral and unilateral breast cancer was 45.34 and 47.54 years, respectively. (p=0.032) Compared to unilateral breast cancer, bilateral group did not differ in gravida, marital status, use of HRT, but the number of case which was diagnosed with breast cancer among close relatives was more frequent (7 cases/6.5% vs 126 cases/2.8%, p=0.024). Although the most frequent histopathologic subtype was ductal carcinoma in both groups, the distribution of the histopathologic subtypes was different between the groups as invasive lobular carcinoma was present in a higher percentage of patients with bilateral breast cancer than in patients with unilateral breast cancer (6.5% vs 2.1%, p=0.002). It suggested that risk factors of developing bilateral breast cancer were family history, lobular tumor, use of hormonal therapy based on the result of multivariate regression analysis. There were no statistically significant difference in 5-year disease free survival and overall survival in both groups (bilateral: 83.25%, 89.52% vs unilateral: 82.74%, 88.79%), (p=0.3934, p=0.3114). Conclusion: In lobular carcinoma patients with family history of breast cancer during follow-up, the possibility of contralateral breast cancer should be considered more carefully and the therapeutic strategy for secondary tumor should resemble the treatment procedure for the primary tumor. No significant financial relationships to disclose.