[A clinical study of recurrent breast cancer].

In a recent 14-year period from December 1978 to December 1993, 180 patients with breast cancer were treated at the hospital, and out of these 180 patients, 38 patients (21.1%) who had a recurrent breast cancer were clinically evaluated. The first recurrence occurred in the local skin in 13 patients, regional lymph node in 1, bone in 13, lung in 4, liver in 4 and in other areas in 3. Histologically, the incidence of scirrhous carcinoma recurrence was higher than that of papillotubular carcinomas. There was no recurrence in mucinous carcinomas. The frequency of recurrence became higher in accordance with TNM classification, namely, 6.7% in Stage I, 23.7% in Stage II, 37.5% in Stage IIIa, and 47.1% in Stage IIIb cancers. An increasing tendency in the recurrence rate was also noted with an increase of tumor diameter or lymph node metastasis. Otherwise, there was no difference in cumulative survival after recurrence between TNM classification. There were no correlations between the estrogen receptor and incidence of recurrence or 5-year survival rate. The disease free interval (DFI) was less than 2 years in about 60% of the recurrent cases. DFI of bone metastasis was longer than for the other sites of recurrence. The survival rate increased according to prolongation of DFI. After through evaluation of these results, one should pay close attention to follow-up after mastectomy.