Disparities in the survival improvement of recurrent breast cancer

Background The therapeutic advances in breast cancer have improved the survival of patients with early disease; however, survival improvement of patients with recurrent disease remains ambiguous. In this retrospective study, we examined whether disparities in survival improvement exist in patients with recurrent breast cancer with distant metastasis. Methods The survival time of 126 patients who experienced recurrence at distant sites from 1990 through 1996 was compared to that of 195 patients who did from 1997 through 2003. Results A significant survival improvement was observed in the patients who experienced recurrence in the period of 1997-2003 in comparison to the other period in the subsets with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease, those who received adjuvant hormonal therapy, and those with a disease-free interval (DFI) of 24 months or more. However, no significant survival improvement was observed in each counterpart. The median survival time (MST) from the first relapse of patients with ER-positive disease in the recurrence period of 1997-2003 was 18.8 months longer than that in the recurrence period of 1990-1996 (46.6 months vs. 27.8 months). The MST of patients with a DFI of 24 months or more in 1997-2003 was 20.3 months longer than that in the other time period (47.2 months vs. 26.9 months). Conclusion The survival of recurrent breast cancer has improved with disparities. The ER status and the DFI are associated with a survival improvement of women with recurrent breast cancer with distant metastases.