Table 1 Patient characteristics of 251 HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients
|  | Pre-trastuzumab group ( n =140) | Post-trastuzumab group ( n =111) | P -value ( χ 2 test) |
|---|---|---|---|
Age | Â | Â | Â |
 Median (year, range) | 48 (25–77) | 48 (25–71) | 0.412 |
 ER (+ ve) | 63 (45.0%) | 41 (36.9%) | 0.198 |
 PR (+ ve) | 43 (30.9%) | 34 (30.6%) | 0.959 |
Disease status | Â | Â | Â |
 Recurrent | 115 (82.1%) | 83 (74.89%) | 0.155 |
 Initially metastatic | 25 (17.9%) | 28 (25.2%) |  |
Median DFS (log-rank test) | 33.2 months | 29.3 months | 0.667 |
Initial TNM stage (n=239) | Â | Â | Â |
 I | 16 (12.3%) | 18 (16.5%) | 0.386 |
 II | 42 (32.3%) | 30 (27.5%) |  |
 III | 57 (43.8%) | 42 (38.5%) |  |
 IV | 15 (11.5%) | 19 (17.4%) |  |
Nuclear grade high (n=177) | 39 (40.2%) | 47 (58.8%) | 0.014 |
Histological grade high (n=166) | 37 (43.0%) | 37 (46.3%) | 0.676 |
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n=213) | 26 (24.3%) | 21 (19.8%) | 0.430 |
Adjuvant chemotherapy (n=215) | 110 (90.2%) | 82 (88.2%) | 0.640 |
Adjuvant radiation therapy (n=214) | 69 (57.0%) | 63 (67.7%) | 0.110 |
Metastatic sites | Â | Â | Â |
 Lymph node (174) | 50 (40.0%) | 16 (32.7%) | 0.529 |
 Liver (n=240) | 48 (37.2%) | 52 (46.8%) | 0.223 |
 Lung (n=242) | 72 (55.0%) | 66 (59.5%) | 0.481 |
 Bone (n=242) | 66 (50.4%) | 57 (51.4%) | 0.651 |
 Brain (n=251) | 35 (25.0%) | 42 (37.8%) | 0.028 |
