Superior survival for breast-conserving therapy over mastectomy in patients with breast cancer: A population-based SEER database analysis across 30 years

INTRODUCTION: It has been believed that breast-conserving therapy (lumpectomy plus adjuvant radiation, Lum + RT) and mastectomy without radiation (Mast + NoRT) have equivalent survival outcomes. However, there is a need to re-evaluate the role of lumpectomy plus adjuvant radiation due to changed breast cancer management over time. This study aimed to conduct a population-based study that compare long-term oncologic survival outcomes after Lum + RT vs Mast + NoRT. METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database was used to identify female breast cancer patients with a primary localized breast cancer diagnosis from 1988 to 2018. The standardized incidence/mortality ratio (SIR/SMR) for breast cancer recurrence (BCR) and breast cancer-specific death (BSD) was estimated by the SEER*Stat program. Cumulative incidences of BCR and BSD were assessed using Gray’s method. We evaluated the effects of Lum + RT vs. Mast + NoRT on breast cancer recurrence-free survival (BRFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Fine-Gray competing risk model analyses, propensity score-adjusted Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards model analyses were applied. RESULTS: A total of 205,788 women were included in the study. Patients who underwent Lum + RT had higher SIR of BCR (4.14 [95% confidence interval, CI: 3.94-4.34] vs. 1.11 [95% CI: 1.07-1.14]) and lower SMR (9.89 [95% CI: 9.71-10.08] vs. 17.07 [95% CI: 16.82-17.33]) than patients who underwent Mast + NoRT. Lum + RT was associated with higher competing risk of BCR (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.996, 95% CI: 1.925-2.069, p < 0.001) and lower competing risk of BSD when compared to Mast + RT (adjusted HR: 0.584, 95% CI: 0.572-0.597, p < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed similar results (adjusted HR after PSW for BRFS: 1.792, 95% CI 1.716-1.871, p < 0.001; adjusted HR after PSW for BCSS: 0.706, 95% CI 0.688-0.725, p < 0.001). These findings persisted in the sensitivity and subgroup analyses. DISCUSSION: The present study further confirmed superior long-term survival with lumpectomy plus adjuvant radiation over mastectomy independent of patient characteristics including age, race, time period, historic subtype, tumor size, historic grade and stage, indicating that this benefit may result from the treatment itself.