Sobrevida de pacientes com câncer de mama submetidas à quimioterapia adjuvante nos serviços de oncologia em Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais

Abstract

This study, undertaken in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, analyzed the 5-year survival rate of 428 women, after they were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The subjects were diagnosed between January 1998 and December 2000, and underwent curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. The patients were enrolled from all the oncology services of the municipality, and followed up until December 2005. Survival time was assessed from the date the histopathological diagnosis was made. The date the patient died of breast cancer was considered a failure. The women alive until the final follow-up date (31/12/2005) were censored. For those confirmed as losses, censor date was the one of the last entry in the medical file. The main variables analyzed were: age at diagnosis, race, tumor size, number of lymphnodes involved, clinical stage, and chemotherapy regimen. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were obtained, with the differences assessed by the log-rank test. For assessment of prognostic factors, hazard ratios (HR) with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were obtained through an adjusted Cox proportional hazards model. Mean age was 51.2 years (range 25-81), and most (72.6%) were white. Clinical stages II (47.4%) and III (38.6%) predominated. An anthracyclic-based chemotherapy regimen was used in 56.1%. Breast cancer five-year survival rate was 82.0%. Survival was significantly shorter in women diagnosed before menopause (p=0.02), with tumor size greater than 2cm (p=0.05), with lymphnode involvement (p=0.000), with more advanced disease stage (p=0.000), and in those with full adjuvant chemotherapy regimen (p=0.03). The number of lymphnodes involved and hormone use were the most important prognostic xiv 14 factors independently associated with survival in the study population, with greater death risk for those with more than 10 lymphnodes involved (HR=7.30, 95%CI: 3.15-16.88) and for those who did not receive hormone therapy (HR=2.04; 95%CI: 1.24-3.37). The results highlight the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, so that better survival rates may be achieved.