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Numbers of mast cells in the axillary lymph nodes of breast cancer patients
Author(s) -
Bowers Henry M.,
Mahapatro Ramesh C.,
Kennedy John W.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197902)43:2<568::aid-cncr2820430225>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - medicine , lymph , breast cancer , breast carcinoma , mast (botany) , axillary lymph nodes , carcinoma , mast cell , radical mastectomy , modified radical mastectomy , mammary gland , pathology , mastectomy , oncology , surgery , cancer , immunology
This retrospective study of surgical specimens from forty‐three consecutive patients treated by modified radical mastectomy for carcinoma of the breast shows that those patients surviving for at least sixty months after operation have a significantly greater number of mast cells in their axillary lymph nodes than the nonsurvivors (p <.001). When expressed as cells/mm 2 the survivors are associated with nodal concentrations greater than eleven mast cells per square millimeter while the nonsurvivors have fewer than eleven mast cells/mm 2. The results suggest that the number of nodal mast cells may be a readily quantitated host response of prognostic value in carcinoma of the breast. Cancer 43:568–573, 1979.