Objectives Background: Describing individuals with advanced breast cancer allows identifying some factors that influence the course of care. The objective of this study is to describe sociodemographic, clinical and pathological characteristics of women in stage IV breast cancer in two reference oncology centres in Colombia.

Methods Data from 2010 - 2017 registres was analysed descriptively. Including central tendency, univariate, bivariate measures and comparisons of proportions with Chi-square (p<0,1) were assessed.

Results Results: We included 227 patients with metastatic breast cancer. 88%(165) were classified on invasive ductal cancer, the mean Ki67 was 30%, and 41% (68) were luminal A subtype. The average age at diagnosis of cancer and metastasis was 53.7 and 55.9 years respectively. 45% (84) of the patients had debuted with distant cancer in the first consultation with the oncologist. The frequency order of metastasis sites was: bone (43%), lung-pleura (20.4%) and liver (10.7%). On average patients presented 2.0 different metastasis at the end of the observation. Non-ductal variants might be associated with metastasis at the first consultation, and high histological grade could be associated with death during follow-up (p 0.05).

Conclusions This is the first description of metastatic breast cancer behaviour in Colombia. The ductal variant, luminal A, high grade, high proliferative index and bone metastasis were the most common characteristics found in women included in this study.