Table 1.
Patient characteristics
| Characteristics | Patients |
|---|---|
| Entered | n = 97 |
| Median age (years) (range) | 46 (25-73) |
| Age > 65 years | 12 (12.4%) |
| Age < 35 years | 8 (8.2%) |
| Stage 4 at primary diagnosis | 24 (24.7%) |
| Grade 3 tumour | 64 (66%) |
| Invasive ductal carcinoma | 81 (83.5%) |
| Positive hormone receptor status | 41 (42.3%) |
| Visceral metastases | 73 (75.3%) |
| Median metastatic sites (sites) (range) | 2 (1-6) |
| Lung | 36 |
| Liver | 49 |
| Bones | 51 |
| Lymph nodes | 37 |
| Soft tissue | 48 |
| Skin | 16 |
| Brain (before trastuzumab) | 1 |
| Others | 3 |
| More than one metastatic site | 78 (80.4%) |
| Adjuvant chemotherapy | 67 (69.1%) |
| Anthracyycline based | 37 |
| Taxane based | 2 |
| Combination anthracyclines/taxanes | 22 |
| Adjuvant endocrine therapy | 26 (26.8%) |
| Adjuvant trastuzumab | 9 (9.3%) |
| Duration adjuvant trastuzumab (median) (range) | 10 (4-24) |
| Palliative treatment other than trastuzumab-based | 35 (36.1%) |
| Second-line combination | |
| Taxanes | 21 |
| Vinorelbine | 30 |
| Capecitabine | 23 |
| Gemcitabine | 12 |
| Anthracyclines | 5 |
| Others | 6 |
| Trastuzumab beyond second-line | 55 (56.7%) |
| Lapatinib beyond second-line trastuzumab | 14 (14.4%) |