Risk factors for loco-regional recurrence in breast cancer patients: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Although fairly uncommon, loco-regional recurrence in breast cancer (BC) has major consequences for the patient. Several predictors for locoregional have been previously reported from large randomized clinical trials mainly from Europe & North America; data from other geographical areas are somewhat scarce. Here we performed a retrospective review of medical records in a single academic center in Chile, searching for predictors of breast tumor recurrence. RESULTS: Median patient follow up was 61 months, 5 year overall survival (OS) rate was 94.2% (95% CI 93–95.3). We found that 108 out of 2,754 (5.3%) patients had loco-regional recurrence. The 2-year loco-regional control was 98% (95% CI 97.3–98.7) and 5-year was 94% (95% CI 92.6–95.4). Univariate analysis showed a correlation between recurrence and being <50 year-old, positive surgical margins, advanced stage, subtype, and presence of LVI and omission of adjuvant radiotherapy. Only the absence of adjuvant RT was predictor of locoregional recurrence in multivariable (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study population presents high local control of BC. Age, surgical margins, stage, molecular subtype and absence of adjuvant radiotherapy were associated with loco-regional recurrence. Prospective trials and long-term follow up are required in order to confirm these results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed medical records from 2,201 BC patients at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile from 1997 to 2016. Collected data included: age at diagnosis, tumor size, axillary involvement, molecular subtype, margin status, histological grade, lympho-vascular invasion (LVI) and ipsilateral recurrence.