Adherence to follow-up recommendation guidelines in long term breast cancer survivors, a SURBCAN cohort analysis using administrative databases

PURPOSE Quality of life of breast cancer survivors 8 years after diagnosis was compared with that among similarly aged women who had never confronted cancer (controls). METHODS Survivors of a consecutive series of 227 breast cancer patients first treated in 1984 were approached for this study. Random-digit dialing was used to identify controls with the same age and residential distribution as the survivors. Quality of life was assessed in terms of physical health, functional status, psychologic distress, and social functioning. RESULTS Participation was obtained from 96% (n = 124) of 129 eligible survivors and 61% (n = 262) of 427 potentially eligible controls. Consistently smaller proportions of survivors reported positive quality-of-life outcomes compared with controls, but these differences were generally small and nonsignificant statistically. When limited to women who remained free of disease over the entire follow-up period (n = 98), survivors' quality of life was similar to that among controls, with the exception of arm problems and sexual satisfaction for those women who lived with a partner. In contrast, survivors who developed recurrence or new primary breast cancer (n = 26) experienced a worse quality of life in all domains except social functioning. CONCLUSION In most domains and for women without further disease events after diagnosis, quality of life does not seem to be permanently and globally impaired by breast cancer. Consequently, breast cancer survivors who remain free of disease probably do not need organized late psychosocial follow-up to improve quality of life. However, arm problems and sexuality are two areas in which additional effort may be still needed to improve quality of life of long-term survivors.

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Asymptomatic cardiotoxicity in long-term breast cancer survivors.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e24084 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e24084-e24084

Author(s):

Mohammed Alaeddine Saidi ◽

Soumeyya Ghomari

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Cancer Survivors ◽

Endocrine Therapy ◽

Early Breast Cancer ◽

Breast Cancer Survivors ◽

Left Ventricular ◽

Left Ventricular Ejection

e24084 Background: Multimodal approach in the adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer has led to a significant number of survivors. However, the combination of these treatments may increase the risk of long-term cardiotoxicity, particularly in the presence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF). Methods: We examined cardiac function in patients who had previously been treated for early breast cancer. Echocardiograms were performed at least 2 years after therapy. We measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and reported pre-treatment LVEF and all CVRF. The initial Framingham Risk Score (FRS) has been calculated. Asymptomatic cardiotoxicity was defined by decrease of 5% or more in the LVEF value without clinical symptoms of CHF. Doxorubicin, Trastuzumab, Radiotherapy, older age, and CVRF (hypertension (HTN), diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, Waist circumference) were evaluated as potential risk factors for the development of cardiotoxicity. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.0. Results: A total of 143 breast cancer survivors with a median age of 46 ± 10 years (range: 26-72) underwent Echocardiogram imaging after a median follow-up of 9,22 years (range: 2 - 22). 48 women were postmenopausal at diagnostic. 32,2% were obese. HTN was present in 15%, diabetes in 12%, and dyslipidemia in 12% of patients. ARA-II was the most used treatment of HTN (55%). 11,9% of patients were under statin therapy. FRS was low in 69%, moderate in 22% and high in 9% of patients. 4 patients had received endocrine therapy alone, none of whom developed cardiotoxicity. There was only one case of symptomatic cardiotoxicity. In the remaining 138 women who received multimodal treatment (Anthracyclines:100%, Docetaxel:62,9%, Endocrine therapy:72%, Trastuzumab:7%, Radiotherapy:83,2%), a statistical but non-clinically significant decrease was observed in LVEF (67.7 ± 3.6 to 65.4 ± 5.1, p < 0.001). 39 women (28,3%) developed asymptomatic cardiotoxicity. In multivariate analysis, factors that contributed to decreased LVEF were HTN (p = 0,006), diabetes (p = 0,008) and dyslipidemia (p = 0,03). Conclusions: The use of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer may increase long term cardiotoxicity particularly in survivors with CVRF. Long-term cardiac follow-up is essential in order to initiate cardioprotective therapy at the right time.

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