Article Text
Abstract
Introduction/Background With increased life expectancy, age is no longer a barrier to managing breast cancer (BC). Few studies have correlated BC with clinical and pathological characteristics in older adults.
Methodology This study was conducted at the Salah Azaiez Institute and included 30 patients treated for non-metastatic BC between January 2003 and January 2023.
Results 90% of patients were females. The mean age was 92.5 years (90–102 years). The majority of patients had co-morbidities and no family history of BC. The most common symptom was mass in 20 patients, followed by mastodynia and skin ulceration. The mean consultation delay was 4.48 months (1–34 months).
The median size of the masses was 53.17mm. Breast imaging showed malignant lesions in 82.1%.
TNM stage at diagnosis was T4(40%), followed by T2(33.33%). The T1 only 13.3% of cases. Axillary lymph nodes were present in 23 patients(76.7%). 23.3% of patients had conservative surgery, and 63.3% of subjects had radical surgery. Two patients were lost to sight after diagnosis. Three patients had neoadjuvant chemotherapy with partial response. The predominant tumor histological pattern was invasive ductal carcinoma (85.7%), followed by papillary carcinoma in 7.1%. The mean tumor size was 41.46 mm (12–140 mm). Axillary lymph nodes were positive in 53.6% of cases. SBR II was the most frequent grade (65.5% of cases). Immunophenotyping showed that hormonal receptors were expressed in 89.7% of the tumors, and HER2 was not expressed in all patients. Ki67 was higher than 20% in 45.5% of cases. The postoperative course was eventful in 53.6% of cases.
Adjuvant treatment is indicated for all operated patients, mainly radiotherapy and hormonotherapy. The average follow-up period was 16.75 months (1- 70 months). Only Six patients (20%) achieved optimal disease control.
Conclusion Elderly patients are a particular category of patients due to the co-morbidities, resulting in complex management of BC.
Disclosures The authors have nothing to disclose.