title: Is the UICC pathological node status system useful? Comparison with the Japanese Breast Cancer Society pathological node status system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The UICC and the Japanese Breast Cancer Society have different TNM classifications. There is a large discrepancy between the pathological node status in the UICC (UICC-NS) and JBCS (JBCS-NS) systems. We compared the UICC-NS with the JBCS-NS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reviewed were data on 1,684 invasive ductal carcinomas at the Cancer Institute Hospital from 1981 to 1986. Each case was categorized according to the UICC-NS and JBCS-NS, respectively. Overall survival 10 years after surgery (OS) by UICC-NS and JBCS-NS was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  OS with UICC-NS and number of case were, respectively, 87.8% and 968 for pN0, 83.9% and 93 for pN1a, 71.6% and 190 for pN1bi, 60.0% and 25 for pN2, 58.8% and 51 for pN1bii, 55.7% and 238 for pN1biii, 54.2% and 24 for pN1biv, 44.8% and 58 for pN3, and 20.6% and 34 for pM (LYM). Differences between pN1a and pN1bi and pN3 and pM (LYM) were significant (p < 0.05). In JBCS-NS, they were 87.8% and 968 for n0, 75.3% and 384 for n1 alpha, 51.3% and 152 for n1 beta, 46.6% and 141 for n2, 21.2% and 33 for n3, 0% and 2 for n4d and n4i, respectively. Differences between n0 and n1 alpha, n1 alpha and n1 beta, and n2 and n3 were significant (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With a large number of classification factors, UICC-NS was more complicated and hard to show significant difference in OS than JBCS-NS. But the latter also had redundant classifications. So, it is necessary to establish a new, simple, and easy-to-register node classification in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Pathology, Cancer Institute, Tokyo, Japan. big-bird@ta2.so-net.ne.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kasumi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged