Estrogen receptor protein of breast cancer in patients with positive nodes. High recurrence rates in the postmenopausal estrogen receptor-negative group
D. W. Kinne, J. A. Butler, M. Kimmel, B. J. Flehinger, C. Menendez-Botet and M. Schwartz
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
In 448 patients with positive axillary lymph nodes who were treated with
mastectomy at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, from 1973
to 1978, estrogen receptor (ER) status was associated with survival. With a
median follow-up of 75 months, significant differences were noted in the
288 postmenopausal patients; ER-positive patients had better six-year
disease-free survival than ER-negative patients (60% vs 45%), as well as
better overall survival. These differences were true in subgroups with one
to three and four or more involved nodes. The addition of adjuvant systemic
therapy had no significant effect on either ER-positive or ER-negative
patients. The need for new imaginative systemic programs in the subgroup of
ER-negative postmenopausal patients with breast cancer with positive nodes
is apparent.
