[The significance of hormone receptor content in primary tumors for cytostatic therapy of advanced breast carcinoma].

The influence of the hormone receptor content in the primary tumor on the survival of 83 non-selected patients with advanced breast cancer who underwent cytostatic chemotherapy was investigated. 89% of the patients received anthracycline-containing regimens. There were no significant differences between receptor-positive and receptor-negative patients with regard to the localization of metastases. No survival advantage from the start of chemotherapy was found in the overall group of patients with estrogen-receptor-(ER-)positive and/or progesterone-receptor-(PR-)positive tumors. However, separate analysis of the ER-status revealed a significant survival advantage for patients with positive ER compared to those with negative ER (median survival of 18 months from the start of chemotherapy in ER-positive patients versus 9 months in ER-negative patients). These data indicate that the ER-status in the primary tumor may have an impact on the survival of patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy for their advanced disease.