Small but significant excess mortality compared with the general population for long-term survivors of breast cancer in the Netherlands

Background Coinciding with the relatively good and improving prognosis for patients with stage I–III breast cancer, late recurrences, new primary tumours and late side-effects of treatment may occur. We gained insight into prognosis for long-term breast cancer survivors. Patients and methods Data on all 205 827 females aged 15–89 diagnosed with stage I–III breast cancer during 1989–2008 were derived from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Conditional 5-year relative survival was calculated for every subsequent year from diagnosis up to 15 years. Results For stage I, conditional 5-year relative s... Mehr ...