Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 1;15(3):141-146.
doi: 10.5152/ejbh.2019.4890. eCollection 2019 Jul.

Breast Cancer in Turkey; An Analysis of 20.000 Patients with Breast Cancer

Vahit Özmen  1 , Tolga Özmen  2 , Volkan Doğru  3
Affiliations

Breast Cancer in Turkey; An Analysis of 20.000 Patients with Breast Cancer

Vahit Özmen et al. Eur J Breast Health. .

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Eur J Breast Health. 2019 Oct 1;15(4):276. doi: 10.5152/ejbh.2019.260992. eCollection 2019 Oct. Eur J Breast Health. 2019. PMID: 31620689 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Objective: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in Turkey. This study presents the characteristics of patients registered in National Breast Cancer Registry Program of Turkish Federation of Breast Diseases Societies.

Materials and methods: The registry contains 242 variables under 10 categories and 699 questions. Patients were recorded (online and offline) from nationwide breast centers around Turkey.

Results: Twenty-thousand patients were registered between May 2005 and April 2017 at 36 centers. After data cleaning, 19,503 women were included in the study. The median age at diagnosis was 51 [14-97]; 17.2% were younger than 40 and 37.2% were premenopausal; 13.6% were nulliparous. Breast conserving surgery rate was 39.3%. Histopathology was invasive ductal cancer in 77%. Majority of patients had stage II cancer (48.3%). Estrogen, progesterone and HER-2 receptor positivity rates in invasive breast cancer were 72.5%, 62.5% and 21.8%, respectively. The mean tumor diameter was 2.5±1.7 cm. During the mean 51.6 months of follow-up, the local/regional and systemic recurrence rates were 3.7% and 5.2%, respectively; five and 10-year overall survival rates were 86% and 76%.

Conclusion: Despite increasing number of screening centers and free-of-charge mammography (ages 40 to 69) and mobile screening systems in recent years, a significant portion of patients were diagnosed at advanced stage due to lack of breast cancer awareness. In contrast with the study published 5 years ago, there was a decrease in the rate of pre-menopausal women and an increase in the breast conserving surgery.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Turkey; demography; pathology; reproductive functions; survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The estimated age-adjusted breast cancer risk in women (with 5-year intervals) according to the 2013 census data
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pathological lymphatic stages according to different age groups
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pathological stages according to different age groups
Figure 4
Figure 4
Associations of pathological lymphatic stages with different tumor diameter groups
Figure 5
Figure 5
Overall survival rate of breast cancer patients
Figure 6
Figure 6
Overall survival according to different molecular subtypes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68:394–424. doi: 10.3322/caac.21492. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, Mathers C, Parkin DM, Piñeros M, Znaor A, Bray F. Estimating the global cancer incidence and mortality in 2018: GLOBOCAN sources and methods. Int J Cancer. 2019;144:1941–1953. doi: 10.1002/ijc.31937. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ozmen V. Breast Cancer in Turkey: Clinical and Histopathological Characteristics (Analysis of 13.240 Patients) J Breast Health. 2014;10:98–105. doi: 10.5152/tjbh.2014.1988. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ozmen V, Boylu S, Ok E, Canturk NZ, Celik V, Kapkac M, Girgin S, Tireli M, Ihtiyar E, Demircan O, Baskan MS, Koyuncu A, Tasdelen I, Dumanli E, Ozdener F, Zaborek P. Factors affecting breast cancer treatment delay in Turkey: a study from Turkish Federation of Breast Diseases Societies. Eur J Public Health. 2015;25:9–14. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cku086. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bloom HJ, Richardson WW. Histological grading and prognosis in breast cancer; a study of 1409 cases of which 359 have been followed for 15 years. Br J Cancer. 1957;11:359–377. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1957.43. - DOI - PMC - PubMed