ACCESS TO BREAST CANCER TREATMENT ASSOCIATED WITH MALIGNANT TUMOR CLASSIFICATION AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

Objective: There are differences between patients from the public system and those from Supplementary Health Care
seeking treatment for breast cancer. An investigation of the association of the form of access to treatment for invasive
breast cancer with the classification of malignant tumors and histopathological characteristics becomes important in
view of the scarcity of research in mixed populations such as the Brazilian. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined
the association of the form of access to treatment for invasive breast cancer with the classification of malignant tumors
and histopathological characteristics in 583 patients seen in a cancer center in southeastern Brazil. The Pearson’s chi-
-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used for statistical analysis. Results: This analysis found an association between the
form of access to treatment and morphology, in which invasive ductal carcinoma was more frequent in the public system
(p=0.024). We found no association with the variables clinical stage (p=0.880), pathological stage (p=0.585), histological
grade (p=0.948), nuclear grade (p=0.395), estrogen (p=0.749), progesterone (p=0.943), HER2 (p=0.266), Ki-67 (p=0.550), and
molecular subtype (p=0.686). Conclusion: In this research, access to treatment showed no association when crossed with
clinical and histopathological characteristics of breast cancer.