Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of Surgery logoLink to Annals of Surgery
. 1993 Sep;218(3):270–278. doi: 10.1097/00000658-199309000-00006

Are positive axillary nodes in breast cancer markers for incurable disease?

B Gardner 1, J Feldman 1
PMCID: PMC1242961  PMID: 8373270

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to determine if resection of positive regional nodes in patients with breast cancer provided a group of cured patients. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Previous studies of long-term follow-up of patients with breast cancer have demonstrated that 30% of patients with positive nodes may be alive at 10 or 20 years. Randomized, prospective studies have not shown a difference in survival between modified radical and total mastectomy. METHODS: The authors analyzed the statistical basis of randomized, prospective studies of breast cancer. Patients from University and Kings County Hospital with breast cancer were observed (n = 1024) and the 10-year survival curves were analyzed. Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program were evaluated to determine the prognosis of patients with positive-node breast cancer who survived 10 and 15 years. RESULTS: The authors found that no current randomized study of primary treatment of breast cancer has the power to determine the advantage of one treatment over another if the primary cancer is treated. Additionally, evaluation of the patients in this study demonstrated that those with regional disease usually had a recurrence by 7 years; however, at 10 years, 30% are still alive and have the same prognosis as patients with negative-node breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Regional breast cancer is a curable disease in some resected patients.

Full text

PDF
270

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Adair F., Berg J., Joubert L., Robbins G. F. Long-term followup of breast cancer patients: the 30-year report. Cancer. 1974 Apr;33(4):1145–1150. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197404)33:4<1145::aid-cncr2820330438>3.0.co;2-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BLOOM H. J., RICHARDSON W. W., HARRIES E. J. Natural history of untreated breast cancer (1805-1933). Comparison of untreated and treated cases according to histological grade of malignancy. Br Med J. 1962 Jul 28;2(5299):213–221. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5299.213. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dennis C. R., Gardner B., Lim B. Analysis of survival and recurrence vs. patient and doctor delay in treatment of breast cancer. Cancer. 1975 Mar;35(3):714–720. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197503)35:3<714::aid-cncr2820350326>3.0.co;2-v. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fisher B., Bauer M., Wickerham D. L., Redmond C. K., Fisher E. R., Cruz A. B., Foster R., Gardner B., Lerner H., Margolese R. Relation of number of positive axillary nodes to the prognosis of patients with primary breast cancer. An NSABP update. Cancer. 1983 Nov 1;52(9):1551–1557. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19831101)52:9<1551::aid-cncr2820520902>3.0.co;2-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fisher B., Slack N. H. Number of lymph nodes examined and the prognosis of breast carcinoma. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1970 Jul;131(1):79–88. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Handley R. S. Carcinoma of the breast. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1975 Aug;57(2):59–66. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Huvos A. G., Hutter R. V., Berg J. W. Significance of axillary macrometastases and micrometastases in mammary cancer. Ann Surg. 1971 Jan;173(1):44–46. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197101000-00006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Rosen P. P., Lesser M. L., Kinne D. W., Beattie E. J. Discontinuous or "skip" metastases in breast carcinoma. Analysis of 1228 axillary dissections. Ann Surg. 1983 Mar;197(3):276–283. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198303000-00006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Rosen P. P., Saigo P. E., Braun D. W., Weathers E., Fracchia A. A., Kinne D. W. Axillary micro- and macrometastases in breast cancer: prognostic significance of tumor size. Ann Surg. 1981 Nov;194(5):585–591. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198111000-00006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Rosen P. R., Groshen S., Saigo P. E., Kinne D. W., Hellman S. A long-term follow-up study of survival in stage I (T1N0M0) and stage II (T1N1M0) breast carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 1989 Mar;7(3):355–366. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1989.7.3.355. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of Surgery are provided here courtesy of Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins

RESOURCES