CLINICAL STUDY OF LOCAL RECURRENCE OF BREAST CANCER

Local recurrence was noted in 40 of 634 patients with breast cancer who underwent radical mastectomy at Kochi City Hospital during the 12-year period from 1973 to 1984. Recurrence was classified into three types: 1) single local recurrence (13 patients), 2) multiple local recurrence (27 patients), 3) distant recurrence (93 patients). The size of the tumor and presence of lymph node metastases at the time of mastectomy appear to be closely related to the incidence of recurrence. Patients with multiple local recurrence show a significantly poorer prognosis compared with those with single local recurrence or distant recurrence. These results suggest that patients wit multiple local recurrence have a highly aggresive type of tumor at mastectomy.