Also, included were women with recurrent disease in the same breast or lymph nodes after a period of being free of cancer. Women with cancer in the opposite breast were excluded because it was impossible to know whether these patients had metastatic or a second new primary. The outcome was scored as a treatment failure if there was death, disease progression or recurrence after complete response. A variety of factors were evaluated to predict treatment failure. There were a variety of factors that worsened the prognosis.
Proteins are present on the surface of cancer cells which bind hormones.
It has been known for many years that women with these hormone proteins responsible for binding hormones on the cell have a more favorable prognosis. These are commonly referred to estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors. Essentially every woman with invasive cancer should know her receptor status. Women who had received prior chemotherapy before the stem cell transplant had equal risk of recurrence after such treatment. Although it is noted that women who received adjuvant or additional chemotherapy after diagnosis followed by disease-free interval of greater than 18 months had a higher risk of failure than those who did not have adjuvant or additional treatment at the time of diagnosis.