title: A retrospective study on the clinical and biological prediction of axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.
abstract: If axillary lymph node metastases were able to be accurately predicted, dissection could be avoided in some patients with breast cancer whose axillary nodes are clinically negative. In this study, we assessed the relationships between histological axillary lymph node metastases and clinical axillary nodal status, tumor size, DNA-ploidy, c-erbB-2 expression, and the score of the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region. We then attempted to evaluate their predictive values for axillary lymph node metastasis in 173 patients with invasive breast cancer, retrospectively. The clinical and biological variables were significantly correlated with the presence and degree of axillary lymph node metastases. A metastatic index, calculated from the clinical and biological variables, proved especially useful for predicting axillary lymph node metastases in patients whose axillary nodes were clinically negative. However, the predictive abilities were still limited and thus it was concluded that as yet, only axillary dissection can provide accurate information on axillary lymph node metastases.
authors.affiliation: Operation Center, Kanazawa University Hospital, School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Earashi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizukami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001365:Axilla; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region; D011003:Ploidies; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases