Investigation of the Relationship between Breast Cancer Prognosis and the Status of Estrogen Receptor in Women Affected by Breast Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between estrogen receptor status and prognosis of breast cancer in women with breast cancer referred to the pathology department.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analytical and survival analysis study. 564 women with breast cancer with ER-positive, were enrolled. The data collection tool was a pre-prepared checklist containing information: age, tumor type, tumor stage, tumor grade, lymph node involvement status, tumor size, and estrogen receptor-positive percentage, survival rate, and recurrence. Data was collected by SPSS version 22 and data analysis was performed using statistical tests. Kaplan-Meier graphs were used to determine survival and the Log-Rank test was used to compare survival.

Result: Lymph node involvement in 54.4% of patients, mortality in 8.5% of patients, and recurrence in 4% of patients. The most common breast tumor was invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) with a prevalence of 87.5%. There was a significant positive correlation between ER percentage and age (r = 0.181, p= 0.000). There was a statistically significant difference between the mean percentage of ER in terms of tumor type (p = 0.001) and tumor grade (p= 0.001). The mean survival time in the studied patients was 81.43±1.33 months and the 5-year survival rate in the studied patients was 85%. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean survival time in terms of age (p= 0.0422) and lymph node involvement (p = 0.0431). The mean duration of recurrence in the studied patients was 83.00±0.85 months and there was a statistically significant difference between the mean recurrence time in terms of ER percentage in the studied patients (p= 0.0059).

Discussion: The most specific factors affecting the prognosis of breast cancer in ER-positive patients are: lymph node involvement status, age, and percentage of ER.