Warren SL, et al. - The purpose of this study was to draw a comparison between the characteristics and outcomes of palpable and nonpalpable, hormone-sensitive, early-stage breast cancers. The experts noted that palpable tumors were likely to have more aggressive features and metastatic potential, in a group of hormone-sensitive, mostly postmenopausal early-stage breast cancer cases, which presented as an increased incidence of breast cancer-related events and worse overall survival.

Methods

• Authours divided patients from the North American Fareston vs Tamoxifen Adjuvant (NAFTA) trial into palpable (n=513) and nonpalpable (n=1063) tumor groups.
• They evaluated the differences in pathological features, loco-regional therapy, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

Results

• The cases with palpable tumors were noted to be older, had larger tumors, and higher rates of lymph-node involvement.
• Findings revealed that the tumors were more likely to be poorly differentiated, of high nuclear grade, and displayed lymphovascular invasion.
• DFS and OS were notably lower for palpable as compared to the nonpalpable tumors after mean follow-up of 59 months (DFS 93.5% vs 98.4%, p < 0.001, OS 88.5% vs 95.6%, p < 0.001).
• After controlling for age, size and nodal status, palpability was found to be an independent factor for DFS (OR=2.56; 95%CI, 1.37-4.79, p=0.003) and OS (OR=2.12; 95%CI, 1.38-3.28, p < 0.001).