BREAST-CANCER IN WOMEN 70 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of age as a prognostic factor in older patients with breast cancer and to discuss the role of surgery in this category of patients. DESIGN: A retrospective study. SETTING: A tertiary care university teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundre d ninety patients aged 70 years or older (mean age: 75 years) were tre ated for breast cancer from 1967 through 1991. These patients were com pared with 190 younger patients (mean age: 52 years) and matched on th e basis of T and N categories (TNM staging system) and surgical proced ures. MEASUREMENTS: Disease-free survival, breast cancer-specific surv ival. RESULTS: The 10-year actuarial breast cancer-specific survival w as 66% for older patients and 56% for younger patients (P = .224). The 10-year actuarial disease-free survival was 54% for older patients an d 45% for younger patients (P = .136). Univariate and multivariate sur vival analysis revealed that tumor size and nodal stage were significa nt prognostic factors for both older and younger patients. CONCLUSION: Treatment with curative intent, similar to that adopted in younger pa tients, is appropriate for women over the age of 70 with breast cancer .