Ultrasonography of the axilla in the follow-up of breast cancer patients who have a negative sentinel node biopsy and who avoid axillary clearance

Figures & data

Table I.  Patient and tumour characteristics of the study participants.

Characteristics	n (%)
Median age at diagnosis (range)	56 (29 – 86)
Primary tumour size
pT1a (≤5 mm)	11 (5)
pT1b (6 – 10 mm)	49 (24)
pT1c (11 – 20 mm)	107 (52)
pT2 (21 – 50 mm)	38 (19)
Median tumour size (mm, range)	14 (3 – 45)
Histological grade
G1	81 (40)
G2	77 (37)
G3	40 (20)
not available	7 (3)
Histological type
ductal	115 (56)
lobular	58 (28)
special type	32 (16)
Tumour site
central	19 (9)
upper medial	45 (22)
lower medial	15 (7)
upper lateral	106 (52)
lower lateral	20 (10)
Median no. of axillary sentinel nodes (range) 2 (1 – 15)
Breast conserving surgery	185 (90)
Breast radiotherapy	182 (89)
Adjuvant tamoxifen	48 (24)
Adjuvant chemotherapy	29 (14)
Adjuvant tamoxifen and chemotherapy	64 (31)
No adjuvant systemic therapy	64 (31)

Figure 1.  The outcome of the 3-year follow-up program with axillary ultrasonography (US).