MONDAY, March 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Anatomic stage and receptor status influence the timing of recurrence for patients with local-regional breast cancer, according to a study published online March 6 in Cancer.

Heather B. Neuman, M.D., from the University of Wisconsin School of Public Health in Madison, and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis of 8,007 patients with stage I to III breast cancer who enrolled in nine Alliance legacy clinical trials from 1997 to 2013 to examine the association of anatomic stage and receptor status with timing of the first recurrence.

The researchers observed significant variation in the time to first recurrence between receptor types. Stage influenced the time to recurrence within each receptor type. Estrogen receptor (ER)-negative/progesterone receptor (PR)-negative/Her2neu-negative tumors had the highest risk for recurrence, which occurred earliest (stage III; five-year probability of recurrence, 45.5 percent). ER-positive/PR-positive/Her2neu-positive tumors had a lower risk for recurrence (stage III; five-year probability of recurrence, 15.3 percent).

“Our statistical methods allowed us to translate the recurrences curves generated from our data into recommendations for optimal follow‐up in the first five years after diagnosis, personalized based on anatomic stage and receptor subtype,” the authors write. “The implementation of risk‐stratified breast cancer follow‐up guidelines has the potential to improve both the efficiency and the quality of breast cancer follow‐up care.”

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