Axillary lymph node metastases in early (pT1) breast carcinomas: Most of the common prognostic factors lack predictive value.

Abstract

Introduction: Axillary lymph node status is an important prognostic feature for patients with breast cancer, but the diagnostic and therapeutic value of axillary lymph node dissection in early breast carcinomas has been questioned. Aim: The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine whether routine biological tumor markers, in addition to conventional clinical and histopathological features can predict axillary lymph node metastases in early breast carcinomas (pT1). Material and methods: Data from 90 patients with pT1 breast cancer who underwent radical mastectomy or lumpectomy with axillary lymph node dissection between January 2000 and April 2003 were investigated. The association between axillary lymph node status and several clinicopathological factors (age, size, tumor grade, histological type), as well as immunohistochemical expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER/PgR), Ki-67 and p53, were analyzed. Hormone receptor status, Ki-67 and p53 expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry and the results were evaluated by performing the standardized scoring system. Results: From the total of 90 patients, 35 (396) were with axillary lymph node metastases. Among the factors studied only the tumor size appeared to correlate with the incidence of lymph node involvement, but this was not statistically significant (p=0.07). Axillary lymph node involvement was present in 4 (286) of the 19 patients with primary tumors <1cm (pT1a+pT1b), compared with 31 (44%) of the 71 with tumors >1cm (pT1c). Hormone receptor status, proliferative activity (Ki-67), and p53 expression were not predictors of nodal involvement in early breast carcinomas. Conclusion: Therefore, biological tumor markers as well as most of the common prognostic clinicopathological factors are not reliable predictors of lymph node metastasis in early breast carcinomas.