title: Extracapsular invasion of sentinel lymph nodes is not associated with disease recurrence in breast cancer.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of extracapsular invasion (ECI) in positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) as a predictor of disease recurrence in breast cancer. SLN biopsy was performed on 318 breasts of 316 breast cancer patients, of which 50 (15.7%) had positive SLNs. Six (12.0%) of these 50 cases had disease recurrence. The clinicopathologic features of these cases were reviewed. The ECI at SLNs was not significantly associated with disease recurrence. The recurrence-free interval by Kaplan-Meier curves did not differ significantly among patients with and without ECI at SLNs. On the other hand, metastasis at non-SLNs was observed in 12 cases (24.0%) among the 50 cases with positive SLNs, and in the non-SLN metastasis group there were 7 patients with ECI at non-SLNs. Three of 7 cases with ECI at non-SLNs had disease recurrence and none of those 5 without ECI at non-SLNs had disease recurrence. Our current study suggests that the presence of ECI at metastatic SLNs is not associated with recurrent disease in breast cancer. Our results also imply that patients with ECI at positive non-SLNs have a high risk of disease recurrence.
authors: 1 Department of General Surgical Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University, Gunma, Japan.
authors: Takaaki
authors: T
authors: Fujii
authors: Reina
authors: R
authors: Yajima
authors: Satoru
authors: S
authors: Yamaguchi
authors: Yasuhiro
authors: Y
authors: Yanagita
authors: Tomomi
authors: T
authors: Fujisawa
authors: Tomoko
authors: T
authors: Hirakata
authors: Soichi
authors: S
authors: Tsutsumi
authors: Takayuki
authors: T
authors: Asao
authors: Misa
authors: M
authors: Iijima
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Kuwano
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
keywords: Breast cancer; Extracapsular invasion; Prognosis; Sentinel lymph node