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Patterns of metastasis and natural courses of breast carcinoma

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Summary

Breast carcinoma is known to metastatize to all organs. In order to understand the patterns of spread and natural courses, this review summarizes detailed studies of patients with various stages of the disease. After treatment of early breast carcinoma (stage I, II, and some III), the recurrent lesion can be classified as local, regional, distant, or combinations thereof. The sites of dissemination of patients presenting with stage IV disease and of those who had autopsy after diagnosis of breast cancer are presented for comparison. Clinicopathological factors that influence the relative incidence, specific site, subsequent event, and prognosis of recurrent and metastatic breast cancers are discussed.

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  1. Department of Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, 96859, Honolulu, Hawaii

    Yeu-Tsu Margaret Lee

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The assertions or opinions contained herein are the private views of the author and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

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Margaret Lee, YT. Patterns of metastasis and natural courses of breast carcinoma. Cancer Metast Rev 4, 153–172 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00050693

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