Table 2.
Surgical treatment methods.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | p | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of breast surgery | |||||
| None | n (%) | 8 (0.9) | 6 (8.8) | 36 (19.5) | < 0.001 |
| Mastectomy | 507 (54.6) | 53 (77.9) | 127 (68.6) | ||
| Breast-conserving surgery | 413 (44.5) | 9 (13.2) | 22 (11.9) | ||
| Axillary surgery | |||||
| None | n (%) | 16 (1.7) | 8 (11.8) | 39 (21.2) | < 0.001 |
| ALND | 433 (46.7) | 49 (72.1) | 112 (60.9) | ||
| SLNB | 339 (36.6) | 9 (13.2) | 17 (9.2) | ||
| SLNB + ALND | 139 (15.0) | 2 (2.9) | 16 (8.7) | ||
| SLNB method | |||||
| Isosulfan Blue | n (%) | 67 (14.2) | 4 (30.8) | 6 (17.1) | 0.487 |
| Radiocolloid | 93 (19.7) | 3 (23.1) | 6 (17.1) | ||
| Combined | 312 (66.1) | 6 (46.2) | 23 (65.7) | ||
| Tumor size (cm) | Median (range) | 2.2 (0–16) | 3 (0.7–16) | 3 (0–14) | < 0.001 |
| No. of positive SLNs | Median (range) | 0 (0–11) | 0 (0–6) | 1 (0–7) | 0.049 |
| Number of SLNs removed | Median (range) | 4 (0–12) | 3 (0–8) | 4 (1–16) | 0.471 |
| No. of lymph nodes removed by ALND | Median (range) | 15 (1–71) | 17 (1–53) | 18 (0–57) | 0.001 |
| No. of positive nodes in ALND | Median (range) | 0 (0–44) | 6 (0–32) | 4 (0–51) | < 0.001 |
| Perinodal involvement | |||||
| No | n (%) | 514 (79.0) | 22 (47.8) | 52 (57.8) | < 0.001 |
| Yes | 137 (21.0) | 24 (52.2) | 38 (42.2) | ||
ALND axillary lymph node dissection, SLNB sentinel lymph node dissection.