Breast Cancer in the Eldery

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and despite consistent observation that cancer incidence increases with advancing age, there still remains a gap in the adequate characterization of this disease in elderly women. Purpose: Characterization of the clinical, imaging and histological features of breast cancer in women aged 80 years or older and comparison with features from a representative group of younger women. Methods:  Single-center retrospective analysis of clinical, epidemiological, imaging and histopathological findings of women aged 80 years or older submitted to magnetic resonance imaging and comparison with a representative population of women with less than 80 years. Results:  Older patients have more advanced disease at presentation, with a significant difference in the clinical stage distribution between the two groups (P-Value = 0.004). Younger patients have a higher prevalence of ductal carcinoma in situ (P-Value = 0.02), with more extensive DCIS disease (P-Value = 0.025). DCIS in patients with 80 years or older is more frequently associated with positive estrogen receptors (P-Value = 0.03). Moderate agreement was found in the concordance between the clinical stage according to breast MR imaging and the pathological stage in patients of 80 years or over (Kappa = 0.50) and in younger aged patients group (Kappa = 0.55). Conclusion: Breast cancer in elderly women presents with different characteristics than in younger aged patients.