VOLUME 16 - NUMBER 2 / March - April (Original article / Artículo original)
Heriberto Medina-Franco, Servicio de Cirugía Oncológica, Hospital Médica Sur, Ciudad de México, México
Patricia Gaona-Luviano, Servicio de Ginecología, Hospital Médica Sur, Ciudad de México, México
Introduction: There are no data on breast cancer epidemiological characteristics of patients treated in the private medicine setting in Mexico. Methods: A retrospective study of women treated in a private tertiary health center in Mexico City from 2001 to 2016 was carried out, and a comparison was made with data of the National Institute of Cancer (InCan). Results: A total of 240 patients with a median age of 52 years were included. The most common histologic subtype was ductal carcinoma, with most cases corresponding to the luminal immunophenotype. Tumors were detected by radiologic screening in 34% of cases, and in 41.7%, tumors were diagnosed in situ or at stage I, in comparison with the InCan series, where 48% are stages III and IV (p < 0.01). Of the cases detected by self-palpation, half had lymph node metastases vs. 7% in the screening-detected cases (p < 0.001). In 60%, conservative surgery was performed, and in 13%, mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. Five-year disease-free survival is higher than 90%. Conclusions: Breast cancer epidemiology is consistent with InCan statistics. There is significant difference in clinical stages at presentation, which is attributed to disparity in access to screening.
Keywords: Breast cancer. Epidemiology. Healthcare inequality.
