Classification of patients with disseminated cancer of the breast

Abstract

Some of the presenting findings of patients with breast cancer at die time of the initial diagnosis of disseminated disease have been collected on 920 patients from 8 centers. These findings have been correlated with survival. This study indicates that the interval between initial diagnosis of the primary disease and the clinical diagnosis of disseminated cancer, and die number and type of organ sites involved, influence the survival from the onset of metastases. It also indicates that if more complete information on the history and clinical course of breast cancer patients were available in studies involving therapeutic trials than presently is used in cooperative studies, the results of such studies might be more meaningful. A useful staging of disseminated cancer for the evaluation of therapeutic trials may be developed for several types of disseminated cancer by utilizing such information.