Detecting prognostic factors in breast cancer –
the SUCCESS experience

Thomas Zwingers, CROS NT, Verona, Italy

Breast cancer is among the most common causes of death in female population. Great progress in therapy of this disease has been made and survival time after first diagnosis has increased considerably during the past decade.

Several prognostic factors for survival have been acknowledged by the medical community and are part of the therapy guidelines. With new diagnostic techniques coming into clinical routine the evaluation of additional prognostic factors is still ongoing.

We will demonstrate the techniques to evaluate new prognostic factors using the measurement of circulating tumor cells applied in a multicentre randomized clinical trial. Special attention will be paid on missing values and the effect on different endpoints commonly used in oncology, e.g. overall survival time, progression free survival.