Nodal tumour growth in breast cancer: the time-span of its biological progression.

ABSTRACT

This series of 1,154 women with unilateral breast carcinoma was treated by modified radical mastectomy with axillary dissection. Histological staging of nodal tumour growth in the axilla distinguished 4 populations in which the numbers of patients presenting for operation over the months of the year differed markedly. The findings are used to develop a hypothesis on nodal tumour growth in which the length of time needed to complete the growth sequence, from the entry of a micrometastasis to exit of tumour cells via the efferent nodal vessels, could be estimated. The results suggest that the time-span may be as much as 3 years, and probably more.