Evaluation of the prognostic value of 2005 St Gallen risk categories for operated breast cancers in Hong Kong

Breast. 2008 Feb;17(1):58-63. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2007.06.007. Epub 2007 Sep 4.

Abstract

Incorporating various new and conventional risk factors, the 2005 St Gallen risk categorization is a potentially useful prognostic tool for breast cancers. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate its application in Hong Kong. Of the 902 included female breast cancers with median follow-up of 5.4 years, 7%, 63% and 30% patients were classified as low-, intermediate- and high-risk categories, respectively. Their corresponding 5-year distant disease-free survivals (DDFS) were 100%, 92% and 72%, respectively (p<0.00005). In the intermediate-risk category, node-positive patients had marginally inferior 5-year DDFS than node-negative patients (89% vs. 93%, p=0.0551). In the high-risk category, patients having HER2 overexpressed tumors and 1-3 positive nodes had significantly better DDFS than other patients with > or = 4 positive nodes (89% vs. 65%, p=0.0001). Overall, the 2005 St Gallen risk categorization had high prognostic value. However, the impact of HER2 overexpression might be affected by reproducibility of HER2 tests.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Breast Neoplasms / epidemiology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Breast Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Carcinoma / epidemiology*
  • Carcinoma / genetics
  • Carcinoma / pathology
  • Carcinoma / secondary
  • Carcinoma / surgery*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genes, erbB-2
  • Hong Kong / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Mastectomy / statistics & numerical data
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Staging / methods
  • Prognosis
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment
  • Survival Rate
  • Treatment Outcome