Open AccessPredictors to Assess Non‐Sentinel Lymph Node Status in Breast Cancer Patients with Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis
Author(s) -
Jinno Hiromitsu,
Sakata Michio,
Asaga Sota,
Wada Masahiro,
Shimada Toshiyuki,
Kitagawa Yuko,
Suzuki Takayuki,
Nakahara Tadaki,
Kitamura Naoto,
Kubo Atsushi,
Mukai Makio,
Ikeda Tadashi,
Kitajima Masaki
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the breast journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1524-4741
pISSN - 1075-122X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1524-4741.2008.00646.x
Subject(s) - medicine , sentinel lymph node , breast cancer , sentinel node , oncology , lymph node metastasis , metastasis , lymph , cancer , pathology
The next step of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer is to determine which patients need axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) following a positive SLNB. A prospective database of 239 patients who underwent SLNB followed by complete ALND at Keio University Hospital from January 2001 to June 2005 was reviewed. A total of 131 patients with one or more positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) were further analyzed. A univariate analysis showed a significant correlation between non‐SLN involvement and lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, number of tumor‐involved SLNs, radioactivity of SLNs, and size of SLN metastasis (p = 0.0002, p = 0.004, p = 0.006, p = 0.04, p = 0.03, respectively). By multivariate analysis, lymphatic invasion and the number of tumor‐involved SLNs remained significant predictors of non‐SLN involvement. In breast cancer patients with a positive SLN, lymphatic invasion and the number of tumor‐involved SLNs were both independent predictors of non‐SLN involvement.