ABSTRACT

Purpose:

Recently, numerous studies suggest that ratios of involved nodes may have greater prognostic value than absolute numbers of involved nodes in breast cancer. Several authors propose that lymph node ratio (LNR) should be added to the TNM staging system. It seems to be new studies with large databases are neded to clearify the issue.

As far as we know, in literature there isn’t a study which is purposing to evaluate the relation between LNR and pathologic prognostic factors. The current study evaluated the relationship between LNR and pathological prognostic factors in node positive breast cancer patients.

Patients and methods:

150 node positive breast cancer patient (pT1-3, pN1-3, M0) who underwent modified radical mastectomy was reviewed according to LNR. LNR (=number of involved lymph nodes/total number of lymph nodes removed x100) was calculated for each case. Than we evaluated the statistical relation between calculated LNRs and pathological prognostic factors.

Results:

We established significantly difference between two groups (LNR ≤25% versus >25%) according to lymphovascular invasion (p=0.008), extracapsular tumour extension (p=<0.001) and fixation of lymph nodes (p=<0.003).

Conclusion:

Based on our data, lymphovascular invasion, extracapsular tumour extension and fixation of lymph nodes are the factors that have influence on LNR. We believe that relation between LNR and these factors should be considered in studies that purpose to evaluate the prognostic importance of LNR in breast cancer.