Table 3.
Pathological response in excised axillary nodes following NAC
| GROUPS (n = 110) a | PATHOLOGICAL RESPONSE GRADE [n (%)] b * | PRE NAC NORMAL NODES (n = 67) | PRE NAC TUMOUR INVOLVED ALNs (n = 45) | POST NAC PCR in ALNs (n = 43) a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 (PCR) | 2 (PR) | 1(PoR) | ||||
| Aa | 6 (16.7%) | 4 (11.1%) | 4 (11.1%) | 21 (55.3%) | 17 (44.7%) | 6 (35.3%) |
| n = 37 | ||||||
| Ba | 8 (21.1%) | 4 (10.5%) | 3 (7.9%) | 23 (60.5%) | 15 (39.5%) | 8 (53.3%) |
| n = 38 | ||||||
| C | 0 (0%) | 2 (11.1%) | 2 (11.1%) | 14 (77.8%) | 5 (26.3%) | 0 (0%) |
| n = 19 | ||||||
| D | 4 (25.0%) | 2 (12.5%) | 1 (6.25%) | 9 (56.3%) | 8 (50%) | 4 (50%) |
| n = 16 | ||||||
| A + C | 6 (11.1%) | 6 (11.1%) | 6 (11.1%) | 35 (61.4%) | 22 (38.6%) | 6 (30%) (n = 20) |
| n = 56 | ||||||
| B + D | 12 (22.2%) | 6 (11.1%) | 4 (7.4%) | 32 (58.2%) | 23 (41.8%) | 12 (52.2%) (n = 23) |
| n = 54 | ||||||
aTwo patients had pre-operative radiotherapy and were excluded from the post NAC analysis, one in Group A and one in Group B.
bPCR : complete response, all metastatic disease replaced by fibrosis (grade 3); PR : partial response in metastatic disease and evidence of fibrotic replacement of malignant cells (grade 2); PoR : poor response, metastasis with no evidence of fibrosis (grade 1); normal nodes: no evidence of metastatic disease or fibrosis in lymph nodes.
*Pathological responses were not significantly different between the Groups (p>0.05); A + C v B + D (all ALNs): χ 2 = 2.743, p = 0.098; A + C v B + D (pre NAC +ve ALNs): χ 2 = 1.433, p = 0.231 (Pearson Chi-Square Test).