Purpose: To evaluate the outcome data from breast conservation therapy performed at the Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The remarkably low rates of recurrence found in this study prompted a review of the literature and evaluation of the prognostic factors that may explain these results.
Methods and materials: The data from patients with Tis, T1 or T2 breast tumors, treated with lumpectomy and radiotherapy during the 12-year period between January 1990 and December 2001 were retrospectively reviewed and compared to results found in national publications.
Results: Current follow-up data was available in 97.1% of patients who met these criteria, identifying a total of 896 patients who were analyzed in this study. With a median follow-up exceeding 6 years, the local in-breast failure rate was 0.67%. Survival data was superior to the National Cancer Data Base for each stage of disease.
Conclusion: This low rate of local relapse is extraordinary and unmatched by the published results generally cited in the literature. The findings are consistent with other studies reporting unusually low rates of breast cancer recurrence in patients of Japanese ancestry.