This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of the biological parameters for survival after tumor recurrence or metastases for breast cancer patients.

Fifty patients with local recurrence or distant metastases after their treatment for breast cancer were selected for our study.

These patients constituted 16.9% (50/296) of all the patients with breast cancer who were treated during the investigation period. Survival was correlated with the lymph node status (p= 0.036) and the disease free interval (DFI) (p < 0.001), but patient survival was not correlated with the patient' s age (p = 0.586), the tumor type (p = 0.360), tumor grade (p = 0.353), tumor size (p = 0.886), extensive intraductal component (Ele) (p = 0.295), lymphatic invasion (p = 0.880), estrogen receptor (ER) status (p = 0.408), androgen receptor (AR) status (p = 0.386), the HER-2/neu expression (p = 0.291), the operative methods (p = 0.880), adjuvant therapy (p = 0.551) and metastatic organs and recurrence (p = 0.070). The overall median length of the DFI was 25.9 months. The 16 dead patients (32.0%) had a shorter mean DFI (19.7 months) than the mean DFI (28.8 months) of the 34 live patients (68.0%). The overall 5-year survival rate was 10.0%.

We found the clinicopathological features of the presenting primary tumors that predicted a worse clinical outcome with recurrence or metastases, and these factors can be used in these types of cases as indicators for the prognosis.