The Will Rogers phenomenon in the staging of breast cancer - does it matter?

Abstract

Introduction: Changes in the American Joint Commission on Cancer staging for breast cancer occurred when the 5th Edition was updated to the 6th Edition.

Objective: To investigate how these changes affected stage and survival.

Methods: 3127 cases of breast cancer were restaged.

Results: Late stages increased from 27.7% to 38.1%. The five-year survival improved in Stage 2 (82.9-86.1%) and Stage 3 (50.6-59%).

Discussion: Stage shift leads to an erroneous impression that women are presenting with later stages and stage-specific survival is improving.

Conclusion: Standardizing cancer staging is important when reporting stage and survival in different time periods.

Keywords: American Joint Commission on Cancer; Breast cancer; Stage shift; Stage-specific survival; Staging; Will Rogers phenomenon.