Table 5.
Characteristics of tailored axillary surgery by use of IGL
| Variable | Upfront surgery N = 335 |
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy* N = 151 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IGL (N = 284)** | No IGL (N = 42)** | IGL (N = 125)*** | No IGL (N = 20)*** | |
| TAS | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) |
| Total number of nodes removed by TAS | 5 (3, 8) | 5 (4, 6) | 4 (2, 6) | 4 (2, 5) |
| Number of sentinel nodes | 3 (2, 4) | 2 (1, 4) | 3 (2, 4) | 2 (1, 3) |
| Number of palpably suspicious nodes | 2 (1, 4) | 3 (1, 4) | 1 (0, 2) | 2 (1, 3) |
| Number of positivea nodes | 2 (1, 4) | 2 (1, 3) | 1 (1, 2) | 2 (1, 3) |
| Number of negative nodes | 2 (1, 4) | 2 (0, 4) | 2 (1, 4) | 1 (0, 3) |
| n% | n% | n% | n% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest sentinel node metastasis | ||||
| Isolated tumor cells | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 6 (4.8%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Micro | 11 (3.9%) | 1 (2.4%) | 18 (14.4%) | 3 (15.0%) |
| Macro | 106 (37.3%) | 19 (45.2%) | 84 (67.2%) | 15 (75.0%) |
| NA (no positive sentinels) | 152 (53.5%) | 21 (50.0%) | 11 (8.8%) | 1 (5.0%) |
| Unknown | 15 (5.3%) | 1 (2.4%) | 6 (4.8%) | 1 (5.0%) |
| n% | n% | n% | n% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest non-sentinel node metastasis | ||||
| Isolated tumor cells | 1 (0.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.8%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Micro | 18 (6.3%) | 2 (4.8%) | 4 (3.2%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Macro | 218 (76.8%) | 34 (81.0%) | 21 (16.8%) | 5 (25.0%) |
| NA (no positive non-sentinels) | 27 (9.5%) | 5 (11.9%) | 95 (76.0%) | 15 (75.0%) |
| Unknown | 20 (7.0%) | 1 (2.4%) | 4 (3.2%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| ALND | N = 142**** | N = 23 | N = 61 | N = 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | |
| Number of additional lymph nodes removed by ALND | 13 (9, 18) | 12 (10, 18) | 12 (9, 15) | 12 (8, 14) |
| Number of additional positivea,b lymph nodes removed by ALND | 2 (0, 5) | 1 (0, 4) | 1 (0, 3) | 1 (0, 2) |
| n% | n% | n% | n% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients with additional positivea nodes removed by ALND | ||||
| No additional positive nodes | 42 (30.2%) | 9 (39.1%) | 24 (39.3%) | 5 (50.0%) |
| One additional positive node | 25 (18.0%) | 4 (17.4%) | 10 (16.4%) | 2 (20.0%) |
| Two additional positive nodes | 17 (12.2%) | 2 (8.7%) | 10 (16.4%) | 1 (10.0%) |
| Three additional positive nodes | 8 (5.8%) | 2 (8.7%) | 3 (4.9%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Four additional positive nodes | 11 (7.9%) | 1 (4.3%) | 2 (3.3%) | 2 (20.0%) |
| Four additional positive nodes | 36 (25.9%) | 5 (21.7%) | 12 (19.7%) | 0 (0.0%) |
IQR interquartile range, TAS tailored axillary surgery, ALND axillary lymph node dissection, NA not applicable
aNodes with isolated tumor cells are counted as positive
*Fourteen patients had neoadjuvant therapy other than chemotherapy, three of which underwent ALND
**Nine patients for whom IGL was unknown are not shown here, six of which underwent ALND
***Six patients for whom IGL was unknown are not shown here, four of which underwent ALND
****For three patients the number of removed and additional positive lymph nodes was unknown