The result of breast cancer therapy is usually evaluated using the five-year survival rate. Besides therapeutical aspects, several factors also determine the five-year survival rate, e.g. the stage of cancer and tumor size. The goal of this study is to determine the probability of 5-year survival among breast cancer patients at Dharmais Cancer Hospital Jakarta, and the relationship between cancer stage, tumor size, and 5-year survival rate.
The design was a longitudinal study. Data were collected from the medical records of breast cancer patients admitted to Dharmais Cancer Hospital between 1993 and 1996. The sample was 137 women. Data was collected from the medical record as well as by telephoning or sending post mail to establish how long each breast cancer patient survived.
The results show that the 5-year survival rate for breast cancer patients at Dharmais Cancer Hospital was 48%, with a median survival rate of 54 months. The 5-year survival rate of patients of early operable stages was 72%, while that of those from late stages was 12%. By us ing patients from early operable stages for baseline comparison, the risk-ratio of death in the late stage was 6.612 (95% CI: 4.014; 10.78). Moreover, the 5-year survival rate of patients with tumors that were less than 5 cm in size was 81 %, whilst the 5-year survival rate of patients with tumors larger than 5 cm was 24%. If compared to patients with a tumor size < 5 cm, the risk-ratio of death among patients with tumors over 5 cm in size was 6,612 (95% CI: 5.50; 12.48).
