Table 1.
Patient and tumour characteristics of randomised patients
| GROUPS A + C (n = 57) | STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE* | GROUPS B + D (n = 55) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| χ 2 | p-value | |||
| Age in years, mean (range) | 53.9 (33 – 69) | - | - | 53.0 (35 – 69) |
| Menopausal status, n (%) | ||||
| PRE-PERI | 24 (42.1) | 0.572 | 0.449 | 29 (52.7) |
| POST | 33 (57.9) | 26 (47.3) | ||
| TNM Classification, n (%) | ||||
| T0-T1 | 2 (3.5) | 1 (1.8) | ||
| T2 | 43 (75.4) | 46 (83.6) | ||
| T3 | 5 (8.8) | 4.881 | 0.300 | 5 (9.1) |
| T4 | 7 (12.3) | 3 (5.5) | ||
| N0 | 32 (56.1) | 29 (52.7) | ||
| N1-2 | 25 (43.9) | 26 (47.3) | ||
| Tumour size in cm (caliper), mean (range) | 4.3 (2 – 14) | - | - | 4.2 (1.9 – 14) |
| Pre NAC nodal involvement, confirmed by biopsy, n (%) | 22 (39.3) | - | - | 23 (42.6) |
| Tumour type, n (%) | ||||
| Ductal invasive | 49 (86.0) | 0.410 | 0.815 | 47 (85.5) |
| Lobular invasive (and others) | 8 (14.0) | 8 (14.5) | ||
| Tumour grade, n (%) | ||||
| Grades 1 and 2 | 38 (66.7) | 2.495 | 0.287 | 28 (51.0) |
| Grade 3 | 19 (33.3) | 27 (49.0) | ||
| ER status, n (%)a | ||||
| Positive (Allred >3) | 45 (78.9) | 1.732 | 0.421 | 37 (67.3) |
| Negative (Allred < 3) | 12 (21.1) | 12 (32.7) | ||
| HER2 status, n (%)b | ||||
| Positive (FISH) | 11 (19.3) | 0.212 | 0.450 | 14 (25.9) |
| Negative | 46 (80.7) | 41 (74.1) | ||
aER : Oestrogen receptor. bHER2: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Allred : Scoring system for measuring expression of oestrogen receptors in tissue sections. FISH : Fluorescence in-situ hybridisation.
*Various patient and tumour characteristics were not significantly different between Groups (A + C) and (B + D) (p>0.05, Pearson Chi-Square Test).