Age of 40 years or younger is an independent risk factor for locoregional failure in early breast cancer: A single-institutional analysis in Saudi Arabia

Background. this study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of prognostic factors on the locoregional failure-free survival of early breast cancer patients. methods. in this single-institutional study,213 breast cancer patients were retrospectively analysed. fifty-five of 213 patients were ≤40 years of age at diagnosis. the impact of patient- or treatment-related factors on the locoregional failure-free survival was assessed using the kaplan-meier method. the simultaneous impact of factors on the locoregional failure-free survival was assessed using the cox proportional hazards regression analysis. results. the median follow-up time of the censored patients was 22 months (mean 28 months,range 392 months). on univariate analysis,statistically significant factors for the locoregional failure-free survival were the age (≤40 versus 40 years),t stage (tis,t0-2 versus t3-4),molecular tumor type (luminal a versus luminal b,her2neu overexpression,or triple negative),and lymphovascular status (lv0 versus lv1). on multivariate analysis,age and t stage remained statistically significant. conclusions. being 40 years or younger has a statistically significant independent adverse impact on the locoregional failure-free survival of patients with early breast cancer. © copyright 2012 volker rudat et al.