. 2007 Jul 28;109(3):567–572. doi: 10.1007/s10549-007-9681-x

Table 2.

Definitions of outcome.

Overall survival	Time from surgery until death from any cause
Disease specific survival	Time from surgery until death related to breast cancer. Death not related to breast cancer is censored (Kaplan–Meier analysis) or treated as competing event (competing risk analysis).
Disease free interval	Time from surgery until recurrent disease.^a Death not related to breast cancer is censored (Kaplan–Meier analysis) or treated as competing event (competing risk analysis).
Disease free survival	Time from surgery until recurrent disease^a or death from any cause.

^aIn the definition of recurrent disease local recurrence, regional recurrence, and distant metastasis are considered events; contralateral breast cancer is ignored, treated as event or censored (Kaplan–Meier analysis) / treated as competing event (competing risk analysis)