Abstract
BackgroundThe impact of skin invasion in node negative breast cancer is uncertain.MethodsWe determined the prognosis in 97 node negative breast cancer patients (case group) who had tumors with skin invasion. Then we compared these patients with 4500 node negative invasive breast cancer patients treated surgically in the same period.ResultsPatients with skin invasion tended to be older, had more invasive lobular carcinoma and larger tumor size, and were less likely to have breast conserving surgery than those in the control group. The 5-year disease-free survival rate in the case group was 94.0%. There was no significant difference in the 10-year disease-specific overall survival rates in terms of skin invasion in node negative patients (90.7% in the case group, 92.9% in the control group; p = 0.2032).ConclusionResults suggest that skin invasion has no impact on survival in node negative invasive breast cancer patients. The adjuvant regimens which the individual institute applies for node negative breast cancer should be used regardless of skin invasion.
Highlights
The impact of skin invasion in node negative breast cancer is uncertain
It is well known that the number of metastatic lymph nodes is closely associated with the prognosis of breast cancer patients[1,2]
This study demonstrates that skin-involving node negative breast cancer patients had a 5-year disease-free survival rate of 94.0% and a 10-year disease-specific overall survival rate of 90.7%
Summary
The impact of skin invasion in node negative breast cancer is uncertain. It is well known that the number of metastatic lymph nodes is closely associated with the prognosis of breast cancer patients[1,2]. Some node-negative breast cancer patients, who are believed to have good prognosis, experience recurrent disease. It is important to know the prognostic factors in node-negative breast cancer patients. Skin invasion is one of the classical pathological factors that is associated with prognosis [3]. The T4b category, according to the TNM classification, includes tumors with edema, ulcers, and satellite skin nodules that are signs related to skin invasion of the cancerous lesions[4]. We sometimes encounter histopathological skin invasion in node negative breast cancer patients. We investigate the significance of (page number not for citation purposes)
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