Figure 3.

Time to recurrence and breast cancer mortality

Local recurrence for surgery commonly used (A) and less commonly used (B), distant recurrence for surgery commonly used (C) and less commonly used (D), and breast cancer mortality for surgery commonly used (E) and less commonly used (F). Heterogeneity by surgery use: local recurrence p=0·19, distant recurrence p=0·29, and breast cancer mortality p=0·24. Error bars are 95% CIs. NACT=neoadjuvant chemotherapy. O–E=observed minus expected. RR=rate ratio. V=variance of O–E. Three trials recorded causes of any deaths but only the first breast cancer event. Hence, for these trials, distant recurrence includes the first distant recurrence as the first event and death from breast cancer. *Includes Institut Bergonié Bordeaux¹⁴ (in NACT group, 33% had radiotherapy alone) and Institut Curie S6¹⁵ (in NACT group, 51% had radiotherapy alone; in adjuvant chemotherapy group, 46% had radiotherapy alone) trials.