Axillary lymph node dissection in breast cancer patients after sentinel node biopsy^*

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of 3688 Danish women where macrometastases were found in SLNB and subsequent ALND subdivided according to the number of macrometastases.

	Total (3688)	1–3 Macro (2946)	4–9 Macro (527)	≥10 Macro (215)
	No (%)	No (%)	No (%)	No (%)
Age, y
<50	963 (26.1)	785 (26.6)	139 (26.4)	39 (18.1)
50–59	1095 (29.7)	869 (29.5)	163 (30.9)	63 (29.3)
60–69	1242 (33.7)	994 (33.7)	162 (30.7)	86 (40.0)
70–79	388 (10.5)	298 (10.1)	63 (12.0)	27 (12.6)
Diagnosis
Ductal	3016 (81.8)	2473 (83.9)	407 (77.2)	136 (63.3)
Lobular	526 (14.3)	355 (12.1)	97 (18.4)	74 (34.4)
Other	146 (4,0)	118 (4.0)	23 (4.4)	5 (2.3)
Tumor size, mm
≤10	390 (10.6)	355 (12.1)	24 (4.6)	11 (5.1)
11–20	1686 (45.7)	1417 (48.1)	207 (39.3)	62 (28.8)
21–50	1462 (39.6)	1093 (37.1)	261 (49.5)	108 (50.2)
>50	145 (3.9)	76 (2.6)	35 (6.6)	34 (15.8)
Unknown	5 (0.1)	5 (0.2)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
Grade
I	857 (23.2)	738 (25.1)	96 (18.2)	23 (10.7)
II	1784 (48.4)	1384 (47.0)	275 (52.2)	125 (58.1)
III	872 (23.6)	682 (23.2)	130 (24.7)	60 (27.9)
Unknown	175 (4.7)	142 (4.8)	26 (4.9)	7 (3.3)
ER status
Positive	3324 (90.1)	2658 (90.2)	471 (89.4)	195 (90.7)
Negative	350 (9.5)	275 (9.3)	55 (10.4)	20 (9.3)
Unknown	14 (0.4)	13 (0.4)	1 (0.2)	0 (0.0)
HER2 status
Normal	3113 (84.4)	2523 (85.6)	420 (79.7)	170 (79.1)
Positive	499 (13.5)	367 (12.5)	95 (18.0)	37 (17.2)
Unknown	76 (2.1)	56 (1.9)	12 (2.3)	8 (3.7)

Table 2. Univariate and multivariable analysis of risk for ≥10 macrometastases compared to 1–9 macrometastases in the 3688 Danish patients with macrometastases SLNB and subsequent ALND.

	Unadjusted OR (95%CI)	p value	Adjusted OR (95%CI)	p value
Age, y		.029		.0031
<50	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
50–59	1.45 (0.96–2.18)		1.86 (1.222.86)
60–69	1.76 (1.20–2.60)		2.14 (1.42–3.21)
≥70	1.77 (1.07–2.94)		2.06 (1.22–3.47)
Diagnosis		<.0001		<.0001
Ductal	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Lobular	3.47 (2.57–4.68)		3.09 (2.20–4.34)
Other	0.75 (0.30–1.86)		1.46 (0.53–3.57)
Tumor size, mm		<.0001		<.0001
≤10	0.76 (0.40–1.46)		0.84 (0.44–1.63)
11–20	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
21–50	2.10 (1.52–2.89)		1.78 (1.29–2.50)
>50	8.05 (5.08–12.8)		6.47(3.97–10.5)
Grade^a		<.0001		.0005
I	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
II	2.73 (1.74–4.29)		2.24 (1.41–3.57)
III	2.68 (1.64–4.37)		2.85 (1.66–4.89)
ER status		0.91		0.81
Positive	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Negative	0.97 (0.61–1.56)		0.94 (0.56–1.58)
HER2 status		.083		0.06
Normal	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Positive	1.39 (0.96–2.01)		1.47 (0.98–2.21)

^a If diagnosis is not ductal or lobular the reference is ductal grade I.

CI: Confidence interval; OR: odds ratio.