The lymph nodes status--prognostic factor in breast cancer

The assessment of the survival rate according to axillary lymph nodes status in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The study group included 206 women, treated in the 4th Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic during 2002-2005. All patients were treated surgically with lymph nodes dissection. The analyzed variables included clinical and morphological features of both primary tumor and axillary lymph nodes. We have evaluated 5 years survival in relation to positivity and number of dissected lymph nodes. In order to determine the prognostic value of evaluated variables we have used Kaplan Meir method. 77.7% of all patients were aged between 40 and 49 years old and 62.6% of them presented stage II tumors. Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most frequent histologic type (79.12%) and 71.2% of tumors were moderated of poorly differentiated, lymph nodes invasion being presented in 93 cases. Survival was significantly influenced by lymph node status (p = 0.0001), number of involved nodes (p = 0.0001), number of dissected nodes in pN0 patients (p = 0.0001) and application of adjuvant systemic therapy in pN0 patients (p = 0.0001). The pathological examination of axillary nodes in breast cancer patients offers a valuable information regarding survival. The absence of lymph node metastases of 10 lymph nodes dissection or more, and the application of adjuvant systemic therapy favorably influence the survival.