Clinical and Pathological Predictors of Recurrent Breast Cancer

Abstract

Objectives: Recurrence of breast cancer is common. There are reported risk factors for recurrence which are patient age, tumor size, tumor grade, (lymph vascular invasion (LVI), extensive intraductal component (EIC), and margin status. Nodal involvement also contributes to the recurrence rate as well as hormonal status, and if the patient receives neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy or not. The aim of this study is to look for the clinical and pathological predictors of patients who have recurrent breast cancer after surgical treatment. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at one center (Royal hospital) between 2010 to 2020 for patients who were treated surgically for nonmetastatic breast cancer. We collected the clinical which was mainly the age at the diagnosis and pathological predictors (final histopathology report of the surgical specimen) from the medical records system of the hospital after obtaining the ethical approval. Total sample size was 270 Omani patients. The primary endpoint was the time to locoregional recurrence or systemic recurrence as the first event. A multivariate analysis of the predictors was carried and a P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant with 95% CI. Results: Out of 270 patients with breast cancer who were surgically treated, 113 had recurrence and 157 had no recurrence. There were 104 patients with recurrence have invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and 9 patients with high-grade ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The Mean age of patients with recurrence was 44.0 while in patients without recurrence was 48.3. The difference in age between the two groups is not statistically significant in predicting the recurrence (p = 0.816). ER, LVI, EIC, nodal involvement, grade, margin, and type of tumor were the significant predictors of recurrence by bivariate analysis. However, High grade (Hazard ratio (HR) = 3.823, 95% CI: 1.104-13.240; p = 0.034), EIC (HR = 17.407, 95% CI: 1.538-196.999; p = 0.021), and nodal involvement (HR = 2.314, 95% CI: 1.123-4.767; p = 0.023) remain the significant predictors for recurrent breast cancer in the multivariate Cox regression analysis. By using Kaplan-Meier, the median survival time was 132 months and the recurrence-free survival at two years was 88.0% (The recurrence rate = 12.0%). Conclusions: High grade, extensive intraductal component, and nodal involvement are significant predictors for breast cancer recurrence. The recurrencefree survival at 2 years is 88.0%. Our recommendation is a close follow-up for patients with these predictors.