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. 2025 Aug 23;16:1599. doi: 10.1007/s12672-025-03427-w

Table 3.

Comparison of clinicopathological characteristics between synchronous and metachronous bilateral breast cancer

Characteristics SBBC MBBC
Incidence rate [55,56] 0.7%-1.4% 0.91%-2.5%
Average age [56] 53.5 years old 44 years old, Median interval for SPC: 67.9 months [57]1
TNM2 staging [58] Stage III accounts for 50.5% T1 accounts for 68.9%
Imaging findings Multifocality/Multicentricity [59] Often accompanied by axillary lymph node enlargement [60]
Molecular subtype ER+(60%-75%), HER-2 + 315%-20% [25, 61] ER+(50%-65%), TNBC20%-25% [62]
Pathological type Invasive ductal carcinoma(80%-90%) [63] Invasive ductal carcinoma(75%-85%), the proportion of invasive pathology is higher in second cancers [8]
Histological grade Mainly Grade 2(60.8%) [58] The second cancer may be of a higher grade [64]
5-year OS 74.6%-82% [28, 65] 63.2%-70%, if the interval is > 5 years, it increases to 75% [1, 66]

1Mruthyunjayappa et al. analyzed 52 cases in a U.S. cohort and found that the median interval time for MBBC was 67.9 months

2TNM staging: The TNM staging system (Tumor, Node, Metastasis) classifies cancer progression based on primary tumor extent (T), lymph node involvement (N), and distant metastasis presence (M)

3HER-2 + indicates HER-2 expression++/+++, and FISH staining is positive