Epidemiological and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with breast cancer: A retrospective analysis of 3 846 case

Objective To summarize the epidemiological and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with breast cancer treated in Chinese PLA General Hospital, and compare these features with paitents in China, Asian and western countries. Methods Clinical data about patients with breast cancer in our hospital from January 2000 to December 2012 were collected. The distribution of epidemiological and pathological features of these patients was described and analyzed. Results A total of 3 846 cases with breast cancer in stageⅠto stageⅣ, who mainly came from the north area of China, were included. The median age was 48 years (ranged from 18 to 91 years), with the peak in 41-50 years. Premenopausal women accounted for 59.18%. The major pathological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (78.13%). Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) gradeⅠ-Ⅱaccounted for 66.84%. The positive rate of hormone receptor and HER-2 receptor was 73.78% and 20.72%, respectively. Molecular subtype of Luminal B accounted for 49.48% followed by Luminal A (23.66%), and triple negative breast cancer accounted for 13.02%. According to the St. Gallen Consensus, 75.62% of patients were at low or intermediate risk, and patients in clinical stageⅠ-Ⅱaccounted for 78.01%. During the last decade, the proportion of patients in stageⅠ, and patients with DCIS/LCIS and small tumor (T1) increased gradually, while fewer patients were diagnosed with stageⅡand stageⅢ-Ⅳ. Modified radical mastectomy was the main surgery method in our hospital, with an upward trend of conservative surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) since 2000. The operative region tended to be smaller, and adjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital changed with time. Conclusion Epidemiological and clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer in recent ten years in Chinese PLA General Hospital is reported in this article, which is similar to that of China and other Asian countries, but different with Western countries in many aspects (eg. the mean age of onset, the distribution of menstruation and receptor status). As time goes by, patients diagnosed with early breast cancer and small tumor increase gradually, the operative region is narrowed, and adjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital changes with time as guidelines updated.