Influence of the number of removed axillary lymph nodes on the prognosis of node-negative primary breast cancer.
- Author:
Hui-ying WANG
1
;
Hui-ting DONG
;
Qun LIU
;
Peng XING
;
Ji-guang LI
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Adult; Axilla; Breast Neoplasms; pathology; surgery; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast; pathology; surgery; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating; pathology; surgery; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Lymph Node Excision; Lymph Nodes; pathology; Lymphatic Metastasis; Mastectomy; methods; Middle Aged; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Survival Rate
- From: Chinese Journal of Oncology 2012;34(6):457-460
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo analyze the relationship between the number of removed axillary lymph nodes and prognosis of axillary node-negative breast cancer.
METHODSThe clinicopathological data of 655 patients with breast cancer were analyzed retrospectively. The disease-free survival curves were generated according to the number of removed axillary lymph nodes using Kaplan-Meier plots. The correlation between the co-variables and rate of breast cancer-related events was analyzed using Cox model.
RESULTSThe overall five year-disease free survival rate of the 655 cases was 94.4%. The rate of patients with lymph node number ≤ 12 was 90.3%, and that of lymph node number > 12 was 96.5%, with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.009). Significantly less breast cancer-related events were observed in patients with lymph node number > 12 (15/426, 3.5%) than that in patients with lymph node number ≤ 12 (22/229, 9.6%) (P = 0.009).
CONCLUSIONSWhen axillary node dissection is indicated, dissection of lymph nodes >12 leads to much less breast cancer-related events than that in patients with dissected lymph node ≤ 12. The more lymph nodes are dissected, the more accurate prognosis can be estimated.
