Breast cancer in 30-year-old or younger patients: clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis

BACKGROUND: The number of 30-year-old or younger patients with breast cancer is increasing. The aim was to describe the clinicopathological features and prognosis of 30-year-old or younger patients with breast cancer. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 1,406 consecutive patients aged ≤50 years with first diagnosis of invasive breast cancer referred to surgery from March 2001 to March 2009. A total of 105 patients were aged ≤30 years (group I) and 1,301 were aged 31–50 years (group II). RESULTS: Compared with patients of group II, patients of group I had a higher percentage of tumors classified as estrogen receptors (ER) negative (P < 0.001) and progesterone receptors (PR) negative (P = 0.043), with a Ki-67 labeling index ≥20% of the cells (P = 0.011). There was no difference between the two groups for pT and pN, histology, endocrine therapy, and chemotherapy. The 5-year survival of group I was 67.5% as compared with 75.3% for group II (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with patients aged between 31 and 50 years, patients aged ≤30 years have a greater chance of having an endocrine-unresponsive tumor and a significantly poor prognosis.