Relationship of mammography, lymph node metastasis, and p53 protein expression in infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship among the mammography signs, the axillary lymph node ( LN) metastasis, and the p53 expression of infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma. Methods Mammography signs and axillary LN metastasis were analyzed in 72 cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect p53 expression in tumor specimens. The relationship among the mammography signs, the axillary LN metastasis and the p53 expression was assessed. Results The positive rate of p53 expression was 56. 7% in the patients with axillary LN metastasis, which was higher than 31.4% in the patients without axillary LN metastasis ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). The rate of axillary LN metastasis and p53 expression were 66. 7% and 70. 0% in the tumors larger than 2 cm, 56. 4% and 66. 7% in the tumors with more vascular signs, 28. 6% and 38. 1% in the tumors less than 2 cm, 30. 3% and 33. 3% in the tumors with normal vascular signs (P ＜0. 01) , respectively. The rate of axillary LN metastasis in the patients with spinulation was 70. 8% , which was higher than 41.1% of patients without spinulation (P ＜0.05). Conclusion Mammography signs of breast cancer can evaluate the axillary LN metastasis and p53 expression, and also can provide objective reference for clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of breast carcinoma. Key words: Breast carcinoma; Axillary lymph node ; Metastasis; p53