Background: Survival of breast cancer patients depends on a number of factors which are not only prognostic but are also predictive. A number of studies have been carried out worldwide to find out prognostic and predictive significance of different clinicopathological and molecular variables in breast cancer. This study was carried out at Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI), Islamabad, to find out the impact of different factors on overall survival of breast cancer patients coming from Northern Pakistan.
Materials and methods: This observational retrospective study was carried out in the Oncology Department of NORI Hospital. A total of 2,666 patients were included. Data were entered into SPSS 20. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to determine associations of different variables with overall survival. P values <0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 47.6 years, 49.5% being postmenopausal. Some 1,708 were ER positive and 1,615 were PR positive, while Her 2 neu oncogene positivity was found in 683. A total of 1,237 presented with skin involvement and 426 had chest wall involvement. Some 1,663 had > 5cm tumors. Lymph node involvement was detected in 2,131. Overall survival was less than 5 years in 669 patients, only 324 surviving for more than 10 years, and in the remainder overall survival was in the range of 5-10 years.
Conclusions: Tumor size, lymph node metastases, receptor status, her 2 neu positivity, skin involvement, and chest wall involvement have significant effects whereas age and menopausal status have no significant effect on overall survival of breast cancer patients in Pakistan.