[The lymph nodes status--prognostic factor in breast cancer]. / Statusul limfoganglionar--factor prognostic în cancerul mamar.

ABSTRACT

AIM: The assessment of the survival rate according to axillary lymph nodes status in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSIONS: 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.