Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Many breast cancer patients undergo to unnecessary axillary dissection as additional nodal metastasis is not detected other than sentinel lymph node in most of the patients. This study is conducted to establish the accuracy of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) nomogram in Anatolian patients.

METHODS

One hundred and twenty sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy positive breast cancer patients who received completion axillary lymph node dissection were reviewed according to patient and tumour characteristics. The likelihood of having positive non-SLN metastasis based on the factors and the performance of the diagnostic value of MSKCC nomogram were evaluated.

RESULTS

The number of negative SLNs, the number of positive SLNs, SLN extracapsular extention, proportion of positive SLNs to total SLNs (positive SLN ratio), lymphovascular invasion, tumor size, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 status were found statistically significant on non-SLN metastasis in univariate analysis. Tumor size ≥ 5cm (p<0.036) and positive SLN ratio (p<0.005) were found to be correlated with non-SLN metastasis in multivariate analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was formed according to the nomogram and areas under curve (AUC) was found as 0,779 (p<0.001).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The MSKCC nomogram was good discriminator of non-SLN metastasis in SLN positive breast cancer patients for our patient population.