Table 1.
Characteristics and clinicopathologic features of cN+ patients with and without clipped nodes
| Use of nodal clipping | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Overall, N = 801a |
Clipped node, N = 161a | No clipped node, N = 640a |
p valueb |
| Age | 48.09 (11.28) | 46.94 (11.45) | 48.38 (11.22) | 0.2 |
| Surgery year | < 0.001 | |||
| 2011 | 41/801 (5.1%) | 1/41 (2.4%) | 40/41 (98%) | |
| 2012 | 59/801 (7.4%) | 1/59 (1.7%) | 58/59 (98%) | |
| 2013 | 70/801 (8.7%) | 6/70 (8.6%) | 64/70 (91%) | |
| 2014 | 74/801 (9.2%) | 6/74 (8.1%) | 68/74 (92%) | |
| 2015 | 78/801 (9.7%) | 10/78 (13%) | 68/78 (87%) | |
| 2016 | 62/801 (7.7%) | 11/62 (18%) | 51/62 (82%) | |
| 2017 | 78/801 (9.7%) | 15/78 (19%) | 63/78 (81%) | |
| 2018 | 76/801 (9.5%) | 16/76 (21%) | 60/76 (79%) | |
| 2019 | 114/801 (14%) | 35/114 (31%) | 79/114 (69%) | |
| 2020 | 80/801 (10.0%) | 35/80 (44%) | 45/80 (56%) | |
| 2021 | 69/801 (8.6%) | 25/69 (36%) | 44/69 (64%) | |
| Race | 0.069 | |||
| Asian | 53/801 (6.6%) | 14/161 (8.7%) | 39/640 (6.1%) | |
| Black | 103/801 (13%) | 12/161 (7.5%) | 91/640 (14%) | |
| Other | 15/801 (1.9%) | 2/161 (1.2%) | 13/640 (2.0%) | |
| White | 630/801 (79%) | 133/161 (83%) | 497/640 (78%) | |
| Ethnicity | 0.6 | |||
| Hispanic or Latino | 98/801 (12%) | 17/161 (11%) | 81/640 (13%) | |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 699/801 (87%) | 144/161 (89%) | 555/640 (87%) | |
| Unknown | 4/801 (0.5%) | 0/161 (0%) | 4/640 (0.6%) | |
| Tumor subtype | 0.056 | |||
| HR+HER2− | 401/801 (50%) | 88/161 (55%) | 313/640 (49%) | |
| HR−HER2− | 219/801 (27%) | 48/161 (30%) | 171/640 (27%) | |
| HER2+ | 181/801 (23%) | 25/161 (16%) | 156/640 (24%) | |
| Clinical T category at diagnosis | 0.001 | |||
| T1 | 8/801 (1.0%) | 5/161 (3.1%) | 3/640 (0.5%) | |
| T2 | 477/801 (60%) | 106/161 (66%) | 371/640 (58%) | |
| T3 | 272/801 (34%) | 47/161 (29%) | 225/640 (35%) | |
| T4 | 44/801 (5.5%) | 3/161 (1.9%) | 41/640 (6.4%) | |
| Clinical N category at diagnosis | 0.082 | |||
| N0 | 0/801 (0%) | 0/161 (0%) | 0/640 (0%) | |
| N1 | 647/801 (81%) | 140/161 (87%) | 507/640 (79%) | |
| N2 | 66/801 (8.2%) | 8/161 (5.0%) | 58/640 (9.1%) | |
| N3 | 88/801 (11%) | 13/161 (8.1%) | 75/640 (12%) | |
| Pathologic T category | 0.036 | |||
| T0 | 236 /798 (30%) | 62/160 (39%) | 174/638 (27%) | |
| T1 | 240/798 (30%) | 45/160 (28%) | 195/638 (31%) | |
| T2 | 153/798 (19%) | 29/160 (18%) | 124/638 (19%) | |
| T3 | 93/798 (12%) | 13/160 (8.1%) | 80/638 (13%) | |
| T4 | 14/798 (1.8%) | 0/160 (0%) | 14/638 (2.2%) | |
| Tis | 62/798 (7.8%) | 11/160 (6.9%) | 51/638 (8.0%) | |
| Unknown | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pathologic N category | 0.008 | |||
| N0 | 405/801 (51%) | 91/161 (57%) | 314/640 (49%) | |
| N1 | 253/801 (32%) | 56/161 (35%) | 197/640 (31%) | |
| N2 | 99/801 (12%) | 11/161 (6.8%) | 88/640 (14%) | |
| N3 | 44/801 (5.5%) | 3/161 (1.9%) | 41/640 (6.4%) | |
| RCB class | <0.001 | |||
| 0 | 260/801 (32%) | 68/161 (42%) | 192/640 (30%) | |
| 1 | 100/801 (12%) | 17/161 (11%) | 83/640 (13%) | |
| 2 | 273/801 (34%) | 60/161 (37%) | 213/640 (33%) | |
| 3 | 168/801 (21%) | 16/161 (9.9%) | 152/640 (24%) | |
| Type of breast surgery | 0.12 | |||
| Partial mastectomy | 281/734 (38%) | 54/139 (39%) | 227/595 (38%) | |
| Nipple-sparing mastectomy | 107/734 (15%) | 25/139 (18%) | 82/595 (14%) | |
| Skin-sparing mastectomy | 111/734 (15%) | 26/139 (19%) | 85/595 (14%) | |
| Total mastectomy | 235/734 (32%) | 34/139 (24%) | 201/595 (34%) | |
| Unknown | 67 | 22 | 45 | |
| Type of axillary surgery | <0.001 | |||
| SLN Only | 321/801 (40%) | 121/161 (75%) | 200/640 (31%) | |
| ALND and SLN | 92/801 (11%) | 40/161 (25%) | 52/640 (8.1%) | |
| ALND only | 388/801 (48%) | 0/161 (0%) | 388/640 (61%) | |
| Average total number of nodes removed at surgery | 11.37 (8.81) | 6.89 (6.57) | 12.50 (8.95) | < 0.001 |
| SLN only subset |
N = 321 4.15 (2.91) |
N = 121 4.21 (3.14) |
N = 200 4.11 (2.77) |
0.9 |
| ALND and SLN subset |
N = 92 15.52 (8.27) |
N = 40 14.98 (7.59) |
N = 52 15.94 (8.81) |
0.8 |
| ALND only subset |
N = 388 16.37 (8.07) |
N = 0 0 (0) |
N = 388 16.37 (8.07) |
– |
| Total positive nodes removed at surgery | 2.12 (4.08) | 1.27 (2.44) | 2.34 (4.37) | 0.005 |
| Number of positive sentinel nodes removed | 0.51 (1.69) | 0.76 (1.09) | 0.45 (1.80) | < 0.001 |
Data expressed as mean (SD) or n/N (%).
HR hormone receptor, HER2 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, RCB residual cancer burden, SLN sentinel lymph node, ALND axillary lymph node dissection
aMean (SD); n/N (%)
bWilcoxon rank-sum test; Pearson’s chi-squared test; Fisher’s exact test