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Evaluation of axillary lymph node metastasis burden by preoperative ultrasound in early-stage breast cancer with needle biopsy-proven metastasis

Clinical and Translational Oncology volume 22, pages 468–473 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The findings from the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z0011 trial have questioned the use of axillary lymph node (ALN) dissection (ALND) in breast cancer patients with low ALN burden. In this study, our aim was to evaluate axillary nodal metastasis burden in patients with early-stage breast cancer who presented with metastatic lymph nodes diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB).

Methods

The data from 346 patients with cT1–T2 breast cancer who showed positive FNAB results and were seen at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital from January 2014 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into high axillary nodal burden (≥ 3 positive lymph nodes) or low axillary nodal burden (one to two positive lymph nodes) groups. The clinical, radiological, and pathological features were compared between the two groups.

Results

From the 346 patients, 136 (39.3%) had low axillary nodal burden and 210 patients had high axillary nodal burden. Compared to patients with high metastatic burden, the patients with low metastatic burden were more likely to have two or fewer abnormal lymph nodes detected by AUS (95.6% vs. 65.3%, p < 0.05), and more likely to have HR−/HER2− lesions (15.4% vs. 5.2%, p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with more than two abnormal lymph nodes had an odds ratio of 18.385 (95% CI 7.315–46.205, p < 0.05) to have axillary metastasis.

Conclusions

The presence of three or more abnormal lymph nodes on AUS was a significant indicator of high axillary nodal burden in early-stage breast cancer patients with positive FNAB findings. The combination of radiological and clinicopathological findings allows physicians to identify patients with high axillary nodal burden who will likely benefit from ALND in the post-ACOSOG Z0011 trial era.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

BCT:

Breast-conserving therapy

ALN:

Axillary lymph node

SLN:

Sentinel lymph node

ALND:

Axillary lymph node dissection

SLNB:

Sentinel lymph node biopsy

NSLN:

Non-sentinel lymph node

ROC:

Receiver-operator characteristic

AUC:

Areas under the ROC curves

ACOSOG:

American College of Surgeons Oncology Group

AJCC:

American Joint Committee on Cancer

ER:

Estrogen receptor

PR:

Progesterone receptor

HER2:

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2

AUS:

Axillary lymph node ultrasound

IHC:

Immunohistochemistry

FISH:

Fluorescence in situ hybridization

CEP17:

Chromosome 17 centromere locus

HE:

Hematoxylin–eosin

PPV:

Positive predictive value

NPV:

Negative predictive value

OR:

Odds ratio

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge all the nurses in the breast cancer center for their services, along with the patients involved in this study.

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Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, The First Department of Breast Cancer, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, 300060, China

    X. Wang, L. Chen, Y. Sun & B. Zhang

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  1. X. Wang
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  2. L. Chen
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Correspondence to B. Zhang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the author.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wang, X., Chen, L., Sun, Y. et al. Evaluation of axillary lymph node metastasis burden by preoperative ultrasound in early-stage breast cancer with needle biopsy-proven metastasis. Clin Transl Oncol 22, 468–473 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-019-02162-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-019-02162-3

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Axillary nodal burden
  • Axillary lymph node dissection
  • Sentinel lymph node biopsy
  • ROC curve