Table 1.

Patient characteristics and receptor status stratified according tumour response to neoadjuvant chemoterapy

	All (n = 44)	pCR+ (n = 15)	pCR– (n = 29)	p-value	pCRN+ (n = 13)	pCRN− (n = 31)	p-value
Age	46(39–53)	46(40–53)	47(38–52)	0.9802a	46 (40–54)	47 (38–53)	0.8773a
Size	37.5 (30–50)	38 (30–50)	36(30–50)	0.7369a	38 (30–52)	36 (30–49)	0.4965a
Histological type
IDC	39	13 (33.3%)	26 (66.7%)	0.8234b	13 (33.3%)	26 (66.7%)	0.2223b
ILC	3	1 (33.3%)	2 (66.7%)	0.7701b	0	3 (100%)	0.3739b
Mucinous cancer	1	0	1 (100%)	0.6705b	0	1 (100%)	0.6477b
Squamous cancer	1	1 (100%)	0	0.1705b	0	1 (100%)	0.6477b
Immunohistochemical
ER positivity	29	4 (13.8%)	25 (86.2%)	0.0002b	4 (13.8%)	25 (86.2%)	0.0027b
PgR positivity	27	4 (14.8%)	23 (85.2%)	0.0013b	4 (14.8%)	23 (85.2%)	0.0114b
ER– & PgR–	14	10 (71.4%)	4 (28.6%)	0.0002b	8 (57.1%)	6 (42.9%)	0.0076b
Ki67 > 14%	38	14 (36.8%)	24 (63.2%)	0.0939b	12 (31.6%)	26 (68.4%)	0.4959b
HER2 positivity	16	9 (56.2%)	7 (43.8%)	0.0122b	7 (43.8%)	9 (56.2%)	0.1307b
Subtypes
Luminal A	4	0	4 (100%)	0.1899b	0	4 (100%)	0.1865b
Luminal B/HER2–	18	2 (11.1%)	16 (88.9%)	0.0144b	2 (11.1%)	16 (88.9%)	0.0313b
Luminal B/HER2+	5	2 (40.0%)	3 (60.0%)	0.8273b	2 (40.0%)	3 (60.0%)	0.4619b
Triple negative	4	3 (75.0%)	1 (25.0%)	0.0509b	3 (75.0%)	1 (25.0%)	0.0379b
HER2-enriched	10	7 (70.0%)	3 (30.0%)	0.0039b	5 (50.0%)	5 (50.0%)	0.0871b

pCR+Smith’s Grade = 5; pCR−, Smith’s Grade < 5; pCRN+, pCR+ plus either complete absence of residual nodal metastases or presence of nodal micrometastasis; pCRN−, Smith’s Grade < 5 and any other status of axillary lymph node metastases. IDC, invasive ductal carcinoma; ILC,invasive lobular carcinoma; ER,estrogen receptor; PgR,progesterone receptorand HER2,epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Age and tumour size are expressed as median with interquartile ranges in parentheses, while other measurements are expressed as counts with percentages in parenthesis.

^ap-value of the Mann-Whitney test.

^bp-value of the Fisher’s exact mid-P test.