Assessment of Risk Factors for Distant Metastases of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent canceramong Bangladeshi women (27.4%) and the second mostcommon among both sexes (12.5%). Late-stage illnesswith distant metastases in low-income communities has apoor prognosis. Objective: The purpose of this researchwas to identify potential causes of distant metastases.Materials and Methods: This case control study was donefrom July 2017 to June, 2018 in National Institute ofCancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), Mohakhali,Dhaka. Results: In the case group, about 25% involvedlymph node numbers > 5, whereas in the control group itwas nearly 13%; the p-value was 0.035 (<0.05).Theprimary tumor involved the underlying blood vessel in35.7% of participants in the case group and only 15.5% ofparticipants in the control group; the p-value was 0.05(i.e., 0.029). Primary tumors of stages III and IV were present in 54.7% of patients in thecase group and only 22.6% of patients in the control group. On the other hand, I was more inthe control (28.5%) group than the case group (11.9%). Positive surgical margin (p = 0.034,OR = 4.8; 95% CI: 1.126–20.460); positive lymph node > 5 (p = 0.007, OR = 4.11; 95% CI:1.48–11.41); involvement of vessels (p = 0.016, OR = 2.99; 95% CI: 1.227–7.317); stage ofprimary tumor (p = 0.002, OR = 5.81; 95% CI: 1.85–18.15). Conclusion: The highernumber of affected lymph nodes (>5), involvement of underlying vessels, positive surgicalmargin and higher stage (stage III & IV) at diagnosis are statistically significant risk factors for distance metastases of breast cancer.