It has been known for many years from a variety of clinical trials that axillary node status is the most important factor predicting for recurrence and survival in breast cancer. We performed a retrospective study in 157 cases of breast cancer
operated
at the Guro Hospital, College of Medicine, Korea University during the period from September, 1983 to August, 1991 and analyzed to determine the correlation between axillary lymph node metastases in each of the following: patient age, tumor size,
receptor status, tumor location, menopause status, and histological findings.
In 69 cases the carcinoma had spread to the regional lymph nodes(43.9%), while in 88 cases no metastases were detected(56.1%). There was no correlation between axillary lymph node metastases and age, receptor status, tumor location, menopause
status and
histological finding. The relationship between the size of the primary tumor and axillary nodal involvement showed that patients with larger tumors had a higher involvement rate than those with smaller lesion: T1, T2, T3 and T4 lesions had
positive
nodes in 29.4%, 43.0%, 59.3%, and 100%, respectively. The difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).
The findings of this review support that only tumor size correlated significantly with the incidence of axillary lymph node metastases.
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