Lene Mellemkjær

1 Introduction Of the ~2.3 million annual cases of breast cancer worldwide [1], 5%–10% are estimated to be attributed to a genetic predisposition [2]. Female carriers of a pathogenic variant of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have a cumulative breast cancer risk at age 80 years of 55%–72%, but the penetrance varies across specific pathogenic gene variants and with family history of breast cancer [3].

Rikke Nørgaard Pedersen, MD1; Lene Mellemkjær, PhD2; Bent Ejlertsen, DMSc3; Mette Nørgaard, PhD1; and Deirdre P.

Abstract Late breast cancer (BC) recurrence (ie, ≥ 10 years after primary diagnosis) may have a more favorable prognosis than earlier recurrence. We investigated the risk of BC death after late recurrence, identified prognostic factors, and compared survival after early and late recurrence. Using the Danish Breast Cancer Group and other nationwide databases, we identified women with early or late BC recurrence during 2004-2018, who were alive 6 months after recurrence.