Objective: To evaluate the effect of estrogen receptor (ER) on the prognosis of the elderly female breast cancer patients and the guidance for their post-operation therapy.
Methods: 134 cases of the elderly female breast cancer patients (> or = 60 year-old) were divided into two groups depending on their ER level. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate disease-free servival (DFS) rate from the date of surgery.
Results: There were 88 patients in ER (+) group and 46 patients in ER (-) group. The medium follow-up of the ER (+) and the ER (-) group was 92.5 and 85.5 months, respectively. The incidence of recurrence and metastasis was 20.5% (18/88) in the ER (+) group and 41.3% (19/46) in the ER (-) group (P < 0.02).
Conclusion: Estrogen receptor is a reference factor to predict prognosis of breast cancer in elderly patients.