BILATERAL BREAST-CARCINOMA VERSUS UNILATERAL DISEASE - REVIEW OF 498 PATIENTS

In literature data, an uncertainty exists whether occurrence of bilate ral breast cancer decreases the survival probability of affected patie nts. Therefore, we analyzed the medical records of 498 postoperatively irradiated (1977-1982) female breast cancer patients (T1-4,NO-3,MO). In the follow-up time, in 36 patients a bilateral breast carcinoma tre ated by surgery with or without radiotherapy was found. The 10-year ov erall survival rates were 54% in patients who had unilateral disease, compared with 56% in bilateral carcinoma patients, respectively. The i ncidence of metastasis did not differ between both groups: 24.296 vers us 38.8%. Eleven percent of unilateral cancers recurred; in the other group, local failure of the first and second tumor was observed in 19. 4% and 11.1%, respectively. We conclude that the occurrence of bilater al breast cancer has no significant impact on survival, although the d evelopment of local failures and metastases seems to be more frequent. The therapeutic strategy in bilateral carcinoma should resemble the t reatment procedure in unilaterally affected patients.