scholarly journals A Retrospective Analysis on Metastatic Rate of the Internal Mammary Lymph Node and Its Clinical Significance in Adjuvant Radiotherapy of Breast Cancer Patients

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Linwei Wang ◽  
Conghua xie ◽  
Yunfeng Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: There is a discrepancy about the metastatic rate of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMNs) between clinical and pathologic findings. We aimed to investigate the metastatic rate of IMNs and to provide recommendations on target volume delineation of IMNs for adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from 114 breast cancer patients treated with surgery without adjuvant radiotherapy who developed local and/or regional lymph node recurrence/metastasis at our institute from January 2015 to January 2019. Patients with widely lung or pleural metastases were excluded. We first analyzed the recurrence rate with the chest wall, the metastatic rate of internal mammary/anterior mediastinal, ipsilateral axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and then investigated the distribution of the IMNs. Results: Among the 114 included patients, the recurrence rate with the chest wall, metastatic rate of IMNs, IMNs/anterior mediastinal lymph nodes, ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, and the ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes was 43%, 37.7%, 59.6%, 12.3%, and 22.8%, respectively. The metastatic IMNs were mainly located from the first to the second intercostal space. However, metastatic lymph nodes could also be observed above the upper edge of the first rib. Conclusions: The metastatic rate is high in the IMNs and irradiation of the internal mammary lymphatic chain is required. It is suggested that the upper bound of the internal mammary lymphatic chain should be up to the subclavian vein with a 5-mm margin, thus connecting to the caudal border of supraclavicular clinical target volume in breast cancer patients at high risk of recurrence.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Linwei Wang ◽  
Conghua xie ◽  
Yunfeng Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : To investigate the metastatic rate of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMNs) and to provide recommendations on target volume delineation of IMNs for adjuvant radiotherapy of breast cancer patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed 114 breast cancer patients treated only by surgery without adjuvant radiotherapy who developed local and/or regional lymph node recurrence/metastasis in our institute from January 2015 to January 2019, and patients with widely lung or pleural metastases were excluded. We first analyzed the recurrence rate of the chest wall, the metastatic rate of internal mammary/anterior mediastinal, ipsilateral axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and then investigated distribution of the IMNs. Results : Among all of these 114 patients, the recurrence rate of chest wall, the metastatic rate of IMNs, the IMNs/anterior mediastinal lymph nodes, the ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, and the ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes were 43%, 37.7%, 59.6%, 12.3% and 22.8%, respectively. The metastatic IMNs were mainly located from the first to the second intercostal space. However, metastatic lymph nodes could also be observed above the upper edge of the first rib. Conclusions : The metastatic rate is high in the IMNs and irradiation of the internal mammary lymphatic chain is indispensable. It is suggested that the upper bound of the internal mammary lymphatic chain should be up to the subclavian vein with 5 mm margin, thus connecting to the caudal border of supraclavicular CTV(Clinical Target Volume)in breast cancer patients with high risk of recurrence.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Linwei Wang ◽  
Conghua xie ◽  
Yunfeng Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : There is a discrepancy about the metastatic rate of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMNs) between clinical and pathologic findings. We aimed to investigate the metastatic rate of IMNs and to provide recommendations on target volume delineation of IMNs for adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed data from 114 breast cancer patients treated with surgery without adjuvant radiotherapy who developed local and/or regional lymph node recurrence/metastasis at our institute from January 2015 to January 2019. Patients with widely lung or pleural metastases were excluded. We first analyzed the recurrence rate with the chest wall, the metastatic rate of internal mammary/anterior mediastinal, ipsilateral axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and then investigated the distribution of the IMNs. Results : Among the 114 included patients, the recurrence rate with the chest wall, metastatic rate of IMNs, IMNs/anterior mediastinal lymph nodes, ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, and the ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes was 43%, 37.7%, 59.6%, 12.3%, and 22.8%, respectively. The metastatic IMNs were mainly located from the first to the second intercostal space. However, metastatic lymph nodes could also be observed above the upper edge of the first rib.Conclusions : The metastatic rate is high in the IMNs and irradiation of the internal mammary lymphatic chain is required. It is suggested that the upper bound of the internal mammary lymphatic chain should be up to the subclavian vein with a 5-mm margin, thus connecting to the caudal border of supraclavicular clinical target volume in breast cancer patients at high risk of recurrence.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Li ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Linwei Wang ◽  
Conghua xie ◽  
Yunfeng Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : There is a discrepancy about the metastatic rate of internal mammary lymph nodes (IMNs) between clinical and pathologic findings. We aimed to investigate the metastatic rate of IMNs and to provide recommendations on target volume delineation of IMNs for adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed data from 114 breast cancer patients treated with surgery without adjuvant radiotherapy who developed local and/or regional lymph node recurrence/metastasis at our institute from January 2015 to January 2019. Patients with widely lung or pleural metastases were excluded. We first analyzed the recurrence rate with the chest wall, the metastatic rate of internal mammary/anterior mediastinal, ipsilateral axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and then investigated the distribution of the IMNs. Results : Among the 114 included patients, the recurrence rate with the chest wall, metastatic rate of IMNs, IMNs/anterior mediastinal lymph nodes, ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, and the ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes was 43%, 37.7%, 59.6%, 12.3%, and 22.8%, respectively. The metastatic IMNs were mainly located from the first to the second intercostal space. However, metastatic lymph nodes could also be observed above the upper edge of the first rib. Conclusions : The metastatic rate is high in the IMNs and irradiation of the internal mammary lymphatic chain is required. It is suggested that the upper bound of the internal mammary lymphatic chain should be up to the subclavian vein with a 5-mm margin, thus connecting to the caudal border of supraclavicular clinical target volume in breast cancer patients at high risk of recurrence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-161
Author(s):  
Jasmina Gubaljevic ◽  
Nahida Srabović ◽  
Adlija Jevrić-Čaušević ◽  
Adaleta Softić ◽  
Adi Rifatbegović ◽  
...  

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with invasive breast cancer in relation to its serum levels in patients with benign breast disease, and to investigate correlation between MDA serum levels with pathohistological prognostic factors (tumor size, lymph node involvement, and histologic grade [HG]), estrogen receptor (ER) status, and with breast cancer patient’s age and menopausal status. Methods: A total of 43 with well-documented invasive breast cancer were included in this study: 27 with positive axillary’s lymph nodes, and 16 with negative axillary’s lymph nodes, and 39 patients with findings of benign breast diseases. MDA determination in serum of breast cancer and benign breast disease patients was performed by the fluorimetric method, immunohistochemical staining was performed for ER, and routine pathohistological examination was conducted for pathohistological factors. Results: MDA serum levels in breast cancer patients were significantly higher than MDA serum levels in benign breast disease patients (p = 0.042). No statistically significant difference between MDA serum levels in breast cancer patients with and without lymph node metastases was found (p = 0.238). No statistically significant correlations between MDA serum levels and tumor size (p = 0.256), HG (p = 0.124), or number of positive lymph nodes (0.113) were found. A statistically significant correlation between serum MDA levels and ages of breast cancer patients with lymph node metastases was found (p = 0.006). Conclusion: Obtained results support the importance of MDA in the carcinogenesis of breast cancer. According to our findings, serum level of MDA could not be a useful prognostic factor in breast cancer.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madiha Liaqat ◽  
Shahid Kamal ◽  
Florian Fischer ◽  
Nadeem Zia

Abstract Background: Involvement of lymph nodes has been an integral part of breast cancer prognosis and survival. This study aimed to explore factors influencing on the number of auxiliary lymph nodes in women diagnosed with primary breast cancer by choosing an efficient model to assess excess of zeros and over-dispersion presented in the study population. Methods: The study is based on a retrospective analysis of hospital records among 5,196 female breast cancer patients in Pakistan. Zero-inflated Poisson and zero-inflated negative binomial modeling techniques are used to assess the association between under-study factors and the number of involved lymph nodes in breast cancer patients. Results: The most common breast cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma (54.5%). Patients median age was 48 years, from which women aged 46 years and above are the majority of the study population (64.8%). Examination of tumors revealed that over 2,662 (51.2%) women were ER-positive, 2,652 (51.0%) PR-positive, and 2,754 (53.0%) were Her2.neu-positive. The mean tumor size was 3.06 cm and histological grade 1 (n=2021, 38.9%) was most common in this sample. The model performance was best in the zero-inflated negative binomial model. Findings indicate that most factors related to breast cancer have a significant impact on the number of involved lymph nodes. Age is not contributed to lymph node status. Women having a larger tumor size suffered from greater number of involved lymph nodes. Tumor grades 11 and 111 contributed to higher numbers of positive lymph node.Conclusions: Zero-inflated models have successfully demonstrated the advantage of fitting count nodal data when both “at-harm” (lymph node involvement) and “not-at-harm” (no lymph node involvement) groups are important in predicting disease on set and disease progression. Our analysis showed that ZINB is the best model for predicting and describing the number of involved nodes in primary breast cancer, when overdispersion arises due to a large number of patients with no lymph node involvement. This is important for accurate prediction both for therapy and prognosis of breast cancer patients.


2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 960-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Gerber ◽  
Annette Krause ◽  
Heiner Müller ◽  
Dagmar Richter ◽  
Toralf Reimer ◽  
...  

PURPOSE: We studied the prognostic and predictive value of immunohistochemically detected occult tumor cells (OTCs) in lymph nodes and bone marrow aspirates obtained from node-negative breast cancer patients. All were classified as distant metastases-free using conventional staging methods. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 484 patients with pT1-2N0M0 breast cancer and 70 with pT1-2N1M0 breast cancer and a single affected lymph node participated in our trial. Ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes and intraoperatively aspirated bone marrow were examined. All samples were examined for OTCs using monoclonal antibodies to cytokeratins 8, 18, 19. Immunohistological findings were correlated with other prognostic factors. The mean follow-up was 54 ± 24 months. RESULTS: OTCs were detected in 180 (37.2%) of 484 pT1-2N0M0 patients: in the bone marrow of 126 patients (26.0%), in the lymph nodes of 31 patients (6.4%), and in bone marrow and lymph nodes of 23 (4.8%) patients. Of the 70 patients with pT1-2N1MO breast cancer and a single involved lymph node, OTCs were identified in the bone marrow of 26 (37.1%). The ability to detect tumor cells increased with the following tumor features: larger size, poor differentiation, and higher proliferation. Tumors of patients with OTCs more frequently demonstrated lymph node invasion, blood vessel invasion, higher urokinase-type plasminogen activator levels, and increased PAI-1 concentrations. Patients with detected OTCs showed reduced disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OAS) rates that were comparable to those observed in patients who had one positive lymph node. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors revealed that OTCs, histological grading, and tumor size are significant predictors of DFS; OTCs and grading of OAS. CONCLUSION: OTCs detected by simultaneous immunohistochemical analysis of axillary lymph nodes and bone marrow demonstrate independent metastatic pathways. Although OTCs were significantly more frequent in patients with other unfavorable prognostic factors, they were confirmed as an independent prognostic factor for pT1-2N0M0, R0 breast cancer patients.


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