Abstract

PURPOSE
Family history of breast cancer can increase woman's risk of having the disease two to threefold. Patients with familial breast cancer affect the younger at diagnosis and have higher frequency of bilateral disease than those with sporadic cases. We evaluated the characteristics of familial breast cancer(FBC) patients including hereditary breast cancer(HBC) and compared those to sporadic breast cancer(SBC). MATERIALS & METHODS: Of the 885 patients operated on for breast cancer from January 1991 to December 1995 in Seoul National University hospital, 18 patients(2.0%) were classified as familial breast cancer and 5 patients as hereditary breast cancer by definition.
RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 45.7 years in FBC, 47.0 years in HBC and 46.8 years in SBC. The bilateral disease were more frequent in family history positive group(FBC; 22.2%, HBC; 60%) than SBC(1.5%) (p<0.01). In this series, there were no statistical differences in the age at onset, tumor location, histopathologic types and clinical stages amomg the different groups of the breast cancer, but bilateral cancer were seen more often in the familial history positive group than the other groups.
CONCLUSION
As the frequency of familial and hereditary breast cancer was relatively low compared to that seen in other western countries, it would be necessary for the physician to inquire the family history of pateints with the breast cancer more carefully.

• Keywords: Familial;Hereditary;Sporadic breast cancer