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Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence Lingers Many Years

There is a general understanding that an absence of cancerous cells five years after treatment means the fear of recurrence has passed and the patient can claim a cure from cancer.  New research, however, reveals that the risk of developing a recurrence of breast cancer lingers many years, even when systemic therapies to prevent recurrence have been undertaken.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute’s August 12 online issue carries the study which determined residual risk of recurrence after adjuvant therapy.  Adjuvant therapy is post-surgical chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or a combination of the two as a means of preventing a recurrence of the cancer at a later date.

Working from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Abenaa Brewster, MD, and her research team reviewed 2,838 breast cancer patient cases dating between 1985 and 2001.  In order to establish the efficacy of adjuvant therapy, the research team examined each patient at the five-year mark after the beginning of their treatment.

Of these patient cases, 89% of them were free of recurrence five years after beginning therapy, which is estimated to be 10 years after initial diagnosis.  Ten years after initiating therapy, or 15 years after diagnosis, 80% of the patients remained free of recurrence.  At the median point of follow-up care, or 28 months after beginning therapy, 216 patients had recurrences of the disease.

The risk of recurrence was higher when the progression of the cancer was greatest.  Women diagnosed with stage I cancer were 7% more likely to have developed a recurrence at the five-year period.  Women diagnosed in stage II were at 11% greater risk and women with stage III disease were at 13% greater risk of relapsing.

Postmenopausal women frequently take a five-year course of tamoxifen therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence but tamoxifen has not been proven effective in treating younger breast cancer patients.  The study highlights the need for further development of more effective therapies for premenopausal women.

While the risk of recurrence may seem minimal, the research team says its study demonstrates a residual risk for recurrence still lingers even after five years of adjuvant systemic therapy.

Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute

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