Outcome and Clinical-Biological Characteristics of Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer Undergoing Removal of Ovarian/Pelvic Metastases
May 2012
in “
Annals of Oncology
”
TLDR Patients with advanced breast cancer and high hormone receptor levels who had surgery for ovarian/pelvic metastases lived longer, especially if they had high estrogen receptor levels.
The document presents findings from a retrospective analysis of 37 patients with advanced breast cancer who underwent surgery for ovarian/pelvic metastases (OPM) at the European Institute of Oncology. The study aimed to assess overall survival (OS) and the influence of hormone receptor status on outcomes. The median OS after OPM was 81 months, with a 5-year OS rate of 51%. Patients with high estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expression in both the primary tumor and OPM had significantly better OS, particularly if ER levels were greater than 50%. Radical pelvic surgery was associated with a median OS of 81 months, compared to 39 months for non-radical surgery, although this difference was not statistically significant. The study suggests that high ER and PgR expression in both primary and metastatic sites may indicate a benefit from tumor debulking surgery. However, the study's small sample size and retrospective nature limit the strength of the conclusions. Additionally, the document includes a study on cytokine levels and post-cancer fatigue (PCF) in 13 women with PCF and 15 control subjects, which found no significant differences in cytokine levels or leukocyte activation, suggesting that PCF is not mediated by peripheral inflammation.
