Women treated for early breast cancer should be followed for at least 10 years

doi:10.1136/bmj.39244.725810.DB

BMJ 2007;334:1240 (16 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39244.725810.DB

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Women treated for early breast cancer should be followed for at least 10 years

Susan Mayor

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Women who undergo breast conserving surgery for early breastcancer should be followed up for much longer than the threeto five years recommended in current guidelines, warns a studypublished this week. The study shows that relapses can occurat least 10 years after initial treatment.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, analysedrelapses in 1312 women with early stage breast cancer who underwentbreast conserving surgery and postoperative radiotherapy between1991 and 1998 and who were followed up at two centres in Edinburgh(doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6603815). Analysis of the 110 treatablerelapses showed that they occurred in 1% to 1.5% of the womenin each year of the follow-up period.

But different types of relapse varied in their time scales.The incidence of metastatic relapse peaked at just over 3% ayear at two to three years after initial surgery and remainedat just . . . [Full text of this article]

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