Traditional and Established Indicators of Prognosis and Treatment Success

The outcome of breast cancer in an individual patient can be predicted by assessing a range of factors relating to the particular cancer. This assessment can be used to select treatments that are most likely to be successful, and to avoid futile or unnecessarily aggressive procedures. Histopathological examination provides information on most of these factors. The most useful prognostic indicators in standard use are currently tumor stage, tumor grade, completeness of surgical excision, and estogen receptor status.