Prognostic factors in node-negative breast cancer
H. Johnson Jr, S. Masood, C. Belluco, A. M. Abou-Azama, S. Dee, L. Kahn and L. Wise
Department of Surgery, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY.
One hundred patients with node-negative breast cancer were examined to
analyze the influence of tumor size, nuclear grade, and DNA content
determined by flow cytometry on overall survival. Patients with diploid
cancers lived significantly longer than those with aneuploid cancers (126
+/- 8 vs 80 +/- 11 months). Patients with an S-phase fraction less than 10%
lived significantly longer than those with S-phase fractions 10% or greater
(122 +/- 8 vs 85 +/- 10 months). Tumor size had the major impact on
survival, and multivariate analysis of variance by the Cox proportional
hazards model showed the greatest effect on prognosis. Tumor grade did not
significantly influence overall survival.
