Prognostic analysis of recurrent breast cancer.

A total of 138 cases of recurrent breast cancer were reviewed to search for some prognostic factors especially in terms of types of recurrence. Solitary and "discrete" type chest wall recurrence presented the most favorable prognosis, giving an 88% survival rate at five years after recurrence, whereas multiple, disseminated and erysipelatoid type chest wall recurrence showed the poorest prognosis without any five-year survivors. It was also suggested that regional lymphatic recurrence was not as unfavorable as was expected, giving a 49% five-year survival rate. In cases of remote metastasis the five-year survival rate was 11% and no significant difference in prognosis was noticed among site-specific subgroups of remote recurrence. No significant effect of previous adjuvant radiotherapy on survival after recurrence was found and there was no correlation between the latent period and length of survival after recurrence.