Table 5.
Clinicopathological factors in relation to disease-free and breast cancer-specific survival
| Disease-free survival | Breast cancer-specific survival | |||||
| Numbera | Events | P valueb | Numbera | Events | P valueb | |
| Variables | ||||||
| Clinicopathological factors | ||||||
| Age at diagnosis | ||||||
| ≤ 59 years | 83 | 28 | 0.163 | 83 | 19 | 0.005c |
| > 59 years | 63 | 25 | 67 | 29 | ||
| Tumour sized | ||||||
| pT1 | 47 | 11 | 0.007c | 48 | 9 | 0.013c |
| pT2 to pT4 | 97 | 42 | 100 | 39 | ||
| Lymph node statusd | ||||||
| pN0 | 67 | 9 | < 0.001c | 67 | 10 | < 0.001c |
| pN1 to pN3 | 76 | 41 | 80 | 35 | ||
| Histological grade | ||||||
| G1 and G2 | 81 | 23 | 0.008c | 83 | 19 | 0.002c |
| G3 | 64 | 30 | 66 | 29 | ||
| Histological type | ||||||
| Ductal | 120 | 46 | 0.376 | 122 | 40 | 0.474 |
| Lobular | 11 | 4 | 12 | 5 | ||
| Other | 15 | 3 | 16 | 3 | ||
| Tumour focality | ||||||
| Unifocal | 127 | 44 | 0.158 | 130 | 39 | 0.082 |
| Multifocal | 18 | 9 | 19 | 9 | ||
| Oestrogen receptor | ||||||
| Negative (IRSe ≤ 2) | 38 | 16 | 0.351 | 38 | 16 | 0.101 |
| Positive (IRS > 2) | 79 | 25 | 83 | 22 | ||
| Progesterone receptor | ||||||
| Negative (IRSe ≤ 2) | 81 | 32 | 0.214 | 85 | 32 | 0.056 |
| Positive (IRS > 2) | 40 | 11 | 40 | 8 | ||
| Her2 status | ||||||
| Negative (IHC: 0; 1+) | 101 | 38 | 0.840 | 105 | 33 | 0.445 |
| Positive (IHC: 2+; 3+) | 23 | 9 | 23 | 9 | ||
| EDN3 expression | ||||||
| Low (IRSe < 8) | 67 | 28 | 0.167 | 68 | 28 | 0.022c |
| High (IRS ≥ 8) | 79 | 25 | 82 | 20 | ||
aOnly female patients with primary invasive breast cancer were included. bLog-rank test. cSignificant data. dAccording to the UICC (Union Internationale contre le Cancer): TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours [19].eImmunoreactivity score (IRS) according to Remmele and Stegner [24]. EDN3, endothelin-3; IHC, immunohistochemistry.