Recurrencia de cáncer de mama en mujeres del Noroeste de México

Background: Recurrence of breast cancer has been defined as the presence of a new local or distant tumor after a year of initial treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of breast cancer recurrence in women diagnosed with breast cancer in northwestern Mexico. Methods: We designed a cross-sectional study in a cohort of women with breast cancer to determine the prevalence of disease recurrence. We analyzed age, tumor stage, axillary lymph node status, type of tumor, histological grade, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and protein HER2, treatment used and death. Results: We included 397 women, with 23% of recurrence in a follow up to five years. There was a higher frequency of recurrence in those cases where diagnosis was stage III of the disease (48%; OR = 3.54; p = 0.0001). Axillary lymph node metastases (21%;OR = 1.12;p= 0.05) and ER positive (19%; OR = 0.64; p = 0.07) and protein HER2 (28%; OR = 1.53; p = 0.08). Of 121 women who received endocrine therapy, 35 had recurrence (29%; OR = 1.63; p= 0.04) and 15/30 women who received trastuzumab presented recurrence (50%; OR = 3.89; p = 0.01). Death was reported in 77% of cases of disease recurrence (OR = 12.66; p= 0.001). Conclusions: In the late stage of breast cancer, HER2-positive expression in women with ER positive, axillary node involvement and metastases is associated with a higher frequency of recurrence and death.