Surgical removal of a primary tumor in newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer

This study wanted to find out if surgically removing the main tumor in breast cancer which has spread throughout the body would impact the survival of the patient. The study found that removing the primary tumor resulted in a longer overall survival in patients with breast cancer that has spread.

A common treatment for breast cancer is to surgically remove the tumor. However, when the cancer has spread through the body, common treatments often involve measures to improve the quality of life and prolonging survival. 

Whether surgery to remove the main (primary) breast tumor will result in better outcomes for the patient with advanced breast cancer at diagnosis is still under debate. 

This study looked back in time at 1331 patients. All the patients had breast cancer which had spread throughout the body (metastasized). 49.2% of the patients had cancer which had spread to one other organ (single organ metastasis). 592 (44.5%) patients had surgery to remove the primary tumor. The remaining 739 had other treatments. The patients were followed for an average of 23.3 months after diagnosis.

Overall, the patients who had surgery to remove the primary tumor survived for an average of 39.6 months. The patients who did not have surgery survived for an average of 22.4 months. The place of cancer spread, type of cancer, and tumor size did not affect survival in the surgery group.

The study found that surgical removal of the primary tumor in patients with breast cancer that has spread resulted in better overall survival than those who did not have surgery. 

This is a study that looked back in time. Information might have been missing. A randomized controlled trial needs to be done to confirm these results.