MODULATION OF THE INDICATIONS OF ADJUVANT HORMONAL TREATMENT BY TAMOXIFEN IN T1T2 N0N1 BREAST CARCINOMAS - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS OF A MULTICENTRIC STUDY INCLUDING 695 CASES/

From 1982 to 1990, patients less than 75 years, without any previous o r synchonous carcinoma, suffering from an invasive breast cancer class ified as T1T2/N0N1/MO according to clinical TNM staging, were enrolled in this study; 82,4% underwent a breast conservative procedure and 17 ,2% a modified radical mastectomy followed by a post-operative irradia tion. Histological axillary lymph node status, Scarff-Bloom grade and/ or cytological grade, estradiol receptor content, were used to define three groups of patients. The breakdown of patients is not well balanc ed: 416 women were included in group I (N-, grade I II, ER+) when ther e was no adjuvant medical treatment, 110 in group II (N-, grade III, E R+), 169 in group III (N+ less than or equal to 3, grade I II, ER+). P atients from the latter two groups were receiving tamoxifene, 20 mg pe r day for 2 years; Those women not menopaused received first a pelvic irradiation. With a median follow-up of 35 months (1-138) the overall survival is respectively for the three groups 95%, 96%, 96% (P = 0.5) and the disease free survival 86%, 93%, 90% (P = 0.1). The actuarial l ocal regional remission rate is 94%, 97%, 99% (P = 0.07). Such results need to be updated with a longer follow-up, but they show the ability of adjuvant hormonotherapy to tailor the short term survival thanks t o prognostic factors.