title: Selection of breast cancer patients for adjuvant chemotherapy. Another look at the prognostic importance of involved lymph nodes.
abstract: To aid in the selection of breast cancer patients for adjuvant chemotherapy, 263 patients with primary breast carcinoma undergoing curative surgery at the Yale-New Haven Medical Center were examined with respect to axillary lymph node involvement and prognosis. Thirty-five percent of patients with one to three axillary nodes histologically involved with cancer relapsed within five years, as did 61% of patients with four or more cancer-positive nodes. Equally important was the clinical stage. Stage III patients had a poor prognosis (71% relapse rate) regardless of their axillary status. Stage I patients with metastasis to one to three axillary nodes did just as well as stage I patients with no nodal involvement (13% relapse rate). Relapse rates within the nodal categories are significnatly less (P less than .05) than those reported by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008408:Mastectomy; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis