Survival of Node-negative Breast Cancer Patients Treated at the University Medical Centre Maribor in the Period 2000–2009

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is increasingly diagnosed in the early stages without regional nodal involvement. The aim of the present study was to determine the 5-year overall (OS) and breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) for patients with node-negative breast cancer treated at the University Medical Centre Maribor, and compare it with survival at the national level. METHODS: Medical records were searched for information on patients with lymph node-negative invasive breast cancer who received primary treatment at the University Medical Centre Maribor in the period 2000–2009. Information on all Slovenian node-negative breast cancer patients diagnosed in the same period was obtained from the Cancer Registry of Republic of Slovenia. Time trends in survival were assessed by comparing the periods 2000–2004 and 2005–2009. RESULTS: The 5-year OS and BCSS of patients treated in Maribor in the period 2000–2009 were 92.3% (95% CI, 90.5%– 94.1%) and 96.4% (95% CI, 95.2%–97.6%), respectively, and did not differ from the corresponding OS and BCSS for Slovenian patients. Although the improvement in OS for patients from Maribor diagnosed in the period 2005–2009 compared to 2000–2004 did not reach statistical significance (HR 0.73; 95% CI, 0.51–1.05; p=0.086), BCSS significantly improved over the same time periods (HR 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30–0.94; p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: Survival of node-negative breast cancer patients treated at the University Medical Centre Maribor is comparable to survival of corresponding patients at the national level. The rising number of long-term breast cancer survivors places additional importance on survivorship care.