BILATERAL PRIMARY BREAST-CANCERS - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE2ND PRIMARY

Out of 2238 patients with breast cancer 35 developed carcinoma of the contralateral breast. Thirty-three developed metachronous tumours whil e two developed synchronous tumours. The thirty-five patients were fol lowed up for periods between 4-8 years. The majority of patients belon ged to the fourth decade and the peak incidence of developing a metach ronous tumour occurred three to five years after diagnosis of the firs t primary. T2 lesions were the most frequent initial primaries and N1 lesions were commoner than N2. IDC was the commonest histopathological subtype. The overall two-year survival rate was 57.1% (20/35).