Early-Stage Breast Cancer in the Octogenarian: Tumor Characteristics, Treatment Choices, and Clinical Outcomes

Background Nodal staging with sentinel node biopsy (SLNB), post-lumpectomy radiotherapy (RT), and endocrine therapy (ET) for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) tumors is valuable in the treatment of early-stage (stages 1 or 2) breast cancer but used less often for elderly women. Methods This retrospective study investigated women referred for surgical evaluation of biopsy-proven primary early-stage invasive breast cancer from January 2001 to December 2010. Clinicopathologic features, treatment course, and outcomes for women ages 80–89 years and 50–59 years were compared. Results The study identified 178 eligible women ages 80–89 years and 169 women ages 50–59 years. The elderly women more often had grade 1 or 2 disease ( p = 0.003) and ER+ tumors ( p = 0.007) and less frequently had undergone adjuvant therapies (all p ≤ 0.001). Lumpectomy was performed more commonly for the elderly (92 vs. 83 %, p = 0.02), and axillary surgery was less commonly performed (46 vs. 96 %; p