Abstract
BackgroundRecent large trials have shown the survival benefits of 10-year use of tamoxifen by reducing late recurrence compared with 5-year therapy in estrogen receptor(ER)-positive breast cancer. We tried to identify clinical factors associated with the late recurrence.MethodsWe reviewed our database of ER-positive patients who had received operations between 1996 and 2006 in two institutions. We selected 444 who had completed 5-year tamoxifen and were disease-free up to 10 years after the operation. Patients who had received aromatase inhibitors with any regimens were excluded. As a late recurrence group, 139 patients were identified who had completed 5-year tamoxifen, but had recurrence afterwards. Among them, 61 had local/contralateral breast recurrence and 78 had distant metastasis. The median follow-up was 9.7 years. Clinicopathological factors at the time of initial operation, such as age, menopausal status, progesterone receptor expression, HER2 status, tumor grade and Ki-67, were compared between the disease-free group and the late recurrence group.ResultsIn a univariate analysis, tumor size (>2 cm), lymph node metastasis and high histologic grade were significantly associated with late recurrences (p < 0.05). In a multivariate analysis, only axillary lymph node metastasis was significant (p < 0.001). Late distant metastasis was significantly associated with tumor size and axillary lymph node metastasis (p = 0.038, p < 0.001,respectively). Late local/contralateral breast recurrence was associated with axillary lymph node metastasis (p = 0.042).ConclusionsOur data showed axillary lymph node metastasis at initial operation was the only risk factor of late recurrence after completion of tamoxifen for 5 years. Our results can be helpful in making decisions to use extended tamoxifen beyond 5 years.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2423-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Recent large trials have shown the survival benefits of 10-year use of tamoxifen by reducing late recurrence compared with 5-year therapy in estrogen receptor(ER)-positive breast cancer
Adjuvant endocrine therapy was highly effective and could reduce recurrence and the mortality of hormone receptor-positive patients, the long-term follow-up data showed that there was a sustained hazard of recurrence even after the completion of 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy [2, 6, 8,9,10]
Due to the publication of positive results from large randomized trials that have shown the benefits of 10-year tamoxifen therapy, new ASCO guidelines recommend a total of 10 years of adjuvant hormonal therapy for all Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive patients [22, 24]
Summary
Recent large trials have shown the survival benefits of 10-year use of tamoxifen by reducing late recurrence compared with 5-year therapy in estrogen receptor(ER)-positive breast cancer. Adjuvant endocrine therapy was highly effective and could reduce recurrence and the mortality of hormone receptor-positive patients, the long-term follow-up data showed that there was a sustained hazard of recurrence even after the completion of 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy [2, 6, 8,9,10]. Two recent large clinical trials, ATLAS (Adjuvant Tamoxifen: Longer Against Shorter) and aTTom (adjuvant Tamoxifen–To Offer More?) have shown that continuing tamoxifen therapy beyond 5 years reduces recurrence and death from breast cancer over the following years [22, 23]. The challenge is to determine which patients will benefit from this long-term treatment, because its side effects, such as menopausal symptoms and the risk of endometrial cancer, are considerable [11, 21]
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