Clinical course and treatment results of breast cancer patients with ten or more positive axillary nodes

Two-hundred and fifty-nine women with operable breast cancer, having more t han 10 involved nodes without a distant metastasis, were treated with radic al, modified radical or partial mastectomy with complete axillary dissectio n. Survival at 5 years was 63% and at 7 years 54%. Fifty-six per cent and 5 2% were disease free 5 and 7 years after initial therapy. Postmenopausal wo men had an overall survival rate of 64% and disease free survival rate of 6 1% while premenopausal women had an overall survival of 58% and disease fre e survival of 52%. Survival and disease free survival rate for those with 1 0-20 positive nodes were 65% and 69% respectively, while for those with mor e than 20 positive nodes the rates were 49% and 52% respectively; a statist ically better survival in the 2nd group. Although the observational time of patients having adjuvant CEF is short, a better survival rate and disease free survival rate is possible in women treated with CEF. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.