Non-Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis is Hard to Predict by Clinicopathological Factors if SLN Metastasis in Two or Fewer Nodes in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between sentinel lymph node (SLN) and/or non-SLN metastasis and clinicopathological factors in breast cancer. Methods: We identified 176 invasive breast cancer patients by SLN biopsy (SLNB) and evaluated any association between clinicopathological factors and SLN and/or non-SLN metastasis. Results: SLN metastasis was significantly associated with age (P = 0.0231), tumor size (P = 0.0039) and lymphovascular involvement (LVI) (P = 0.0002). Non-SLN metastasis was observed in 41.4% of cases. The involvement of more than three nodes was observed in more than 30% of cases with SLN metastasis in two or fewer nodes. There was no significant association between non-SLN metastasis and clinicopathological factors. Conclusions: Non-SLN metastasis was apparent in more than 30% of cases even if SLN metastasis was present in two or fewer nodes but non-SLN metastasis was hard to predict by clinicopathological factors. J Curr Surg. 2014;4(1):10-16 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jcs206w