Treatment outcomes of young patients with invasive breast cancer treated radically at Groote Schuur Hospital from 2013 to 2017: A single centre study Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer- related deaths globally, and the commonest cancer in women under 40 years. There is currently a lack of data relating to treatment outcomes of young women with breast cancer particularly in low-and middle-income countries. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the treatment outcomes of young patients (under 40 years) treated radically for invasive breast cancer in a low-and middle-income setting. Settings: Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa Methods: A retrospective review of 101 women under 40 years, with invasive breast cancer treated radically, between 2013 and 2017 was conducted. Patient characteristics, tumour characteristics, disease stage, treatment, and follow-up were recorded. Primary objectives included evaluating overall and disease free survival, and analysing recurrence patterns and clinicopathological features. Results: The five-year overall and disease free survival for the entire cohort was 77% and 51%, respectively. Five-year overall survival by molecular subtype showed that Luminal A had the best survival, while triple negative breast cancer had the worst overall survival. Conclusion: Young women with breast cancer have poor survival outcomes despite early presentation. There is limited data regarding breast cancer treatment outcomes in patients under forty years.

In the first part of the dissertation the author summarizes the current knowledge of breast cancer, which is the most frequent malignancy in female population. The author deals with etiology, classification, diagnostics, biological behaviour, therapeutical forms ranging from surgical treatment and radiotherapy, to systemic therapy. In the following part of the manuscript the author describes specifics of breast cancer diagnosed in premenopausal women. She describes how the risk factors, treatment and prognosis differ from the disease in postmenopausal women. Next section of the dissertation includes a retrospective case series evaluating group of patients with breast cancer ≤ 35 years. There were 16 294 cases of breast cancer proven histologically in Biopticka lab Pilsen, ltd. and Sikl's Department of Pathology, Faculty Hospital Pilsen, during 2006-2015. The cohort of patients in our retrospective study includes 356 young women (2,2%) with breast cancer, under 35 years of age by the time of setting the diagnosis. We sorted out a group of 93 patients from the basic cohort, that were or have been treated in the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Faculty Hospital in Pilsen. A control group consists of 100 postmenopausal women ≥ 65 years of age, chosen randomly from all patients treated in the...

In the first part of the dissertation the author summarizes the current knowledge of breast cancer, which is the most frequent malignancy in female population. The author deals with etiology, classification, diagnostics, biological behaviour, therapeutical forms ranging from surgical treatment and radiotherapy, to systemic therapy. In the following part of the manuscript the author describes specifics of breast cancer diagnosed in premenopausal women. She describes how the risk factors, treatment and prognosis differ from the disease in postmenopausal women. Next section of the dissertation includes a retrospective case series evaluating group of patients with breast cancer ≤ 35 years. There were 16 294 cases of breast cancer proven histologically in Biopticka lab Pilsen, ltd. and Sikl's Department of Pathology, Faculty Hospital Pilsen, during 2006-2015. The cohort of patients in our retrospective study includes 356 young women (2,2%) with breast cancer, under 35 years of age by the time of setting the diagnosis. We sorted out a group of 93 patients from the basic cohort, that were or have been treated in the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Faculty Hospital in Pilsen. A control group consists of 100 postmenopausal women ≥ 65 years of age, chosen randomly from all patients treated in the...