Clinicopathological characteristics in women with breast cancer in extreme ages in Greece: A single centre experience

Abstract

Introduction Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in Greek women. The highest incidence occurs in patients aged 40–70 years. However, the emergence of the disease in women under 40 and over 80 years old is a significant problem in everyday practice, because of the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for these age groups. The objective of this study is to investigate clinicopathological characteristics of Greek women under 40 and over 80 diagnosed with breast cancer during 2019–2020 in a specialized Breast Cancer Surgical Centre, as well as the pathological characteristics of their disease and the therapeutic measures applied to these women. Aim of the study The aim of this study is to compare clinical and pathological characteristics of breast cancer in a group of Greek premenopausal women younger than 40 years of age with a group of elderly women older than 80 years old, who were treated in a surgical breast centre in Greece during the last two years. Patients and Methods During the last 2 years, 21 women under 40 and 22 women older than 80 were diagnosed with breast cancer in our Centre. Results Invasive ductal adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histological type for both Groups: Most younger women underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy, while the majority of older patients received hormonal therapy after surgery. Conclusions There were no statistically significant differences between women under 40 and women over 80 in the study sample regarding their clinicopathological characteristics. However, younger women underwent more therapeutic modalities (i.e.adjuvant treatments in addition to surgery) than older ones.