ObjectiveTo explore the influence of sentinel lymph node (SLN) status on the prognosis of elderly breast cancer patients ≥70 years old, and to screen patients who may be exempted from sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), so as to guide clinical individualized treatment for such patients. MethodsA retrospective analysis was made on 270 breast cancer patients aged ≥70 years old who underwent SLNB in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from 2012 to 2021. The clinicopathological characteristics of the total cases were compared according to the status of SLN. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw the survival curve, and the influence of SLN status on the overall survival (OS) time, local recurrence (LR) and distant metastasis (DM) of patients were analyzed, and used log-rank to compare between groups. At the same time, the patients with hormone receptor (HR) positive were analyzed by subgroup. The differences between groups were compared by single factor χ2 test, and multivariate Cox regression model was used to analyze and determine the factors affecting OS, LR and DM of patients. ResultsThe age of 270 patients ranged from 70 to 95 years, with a median age of 74 years. One hundred and sixty-nine (62.6%) patients’ tumor were T2 stage. Invasive ductal carcinoma accounted for 83.0%, histological gradeⅡ accounted for 74.4%, estrogen receptor positive accounted for 78.1%, progesterone receptor positive accounted for 71.9%, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative accounted for 83.3%. The number of SLNs obtained by SLNB were 1-9, and the median was 3. SLN was negative in 202 cases (74.8%) and positive in 68 cases (25.2%). Thirty-five patients (13.0%) received axillary lymph node dissection. There was no significant difference in LR between the SLN positive group and the SLN negative group (P>0.05), but the SLN negative group had fewer occurrences of DM (P=0.001) and longer OS time (P=0.009) compared to the SLN positive group. The results of univariate and multivariate analysis suggest that the older the patient, the shorter the OS time and the greater the risk of DM. Analysis of HR positive subgroups showed that SLN status did not affect patient survival and prognosis, but age was still associated with poor OS time and DM. ConclusionsFor patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of breast in T1-T2 stage, HR positive, clinical axillary lymph nodes negative, and age ≥70 years old, SLNB may be exempted. According to the patient’s performance or tumor biological characteristics, patients who need systemic adjuvant chemotherapy may still consider SLNB.
ObjectiveTo identify the risk factors of bone metastasis in breast cancer and construct a predictive model. MethodsThe data of breast cancer patients met inclusion and exclusion criteria from 2010 to 2015 were obtained from the SEER*Stat database. Additionally, the data of breast cancer patients diagnosed with distant metastasis in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from 2021 to 2023 were collected. The patients from the SEER database were randomly divided into training (70%) and validation (30%) sets using R software, and the breast cancer patients from the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University were included in the validation set. The univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify risk factors of breast cancer bone metastasis. A nomogram predictive model was then constructed based on these factors. The predictive effect of the nomogram was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. ResultsThe study included 8 637 breast cancer patients, with 5 998 in the training set and 2 639 (including 68 patients in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University) in the validation set. The statistical differences in the race and N stage were observed between the training and validation sets (P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that being of white race, having a low histological grade (Ⅰ–Ⅱ), positive estrogen and progesterone receptors status, negative human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status, and non-undergoing surgery for the primary breast cancer site increased the risk of breast cancer bone metastasis (P<0.05). The nomogram based on these risk factors showed that the AUC (95% CI) of the training and validation sets was 0.676 (0.533, 0.744) and 0.690 (0.549, 0.739), respectively. The internal calibration using 1 000 Bootstrap samples demonstrated that the calibration curves for both sets closely approximated the ideal 45-degree reference line. The decision curve analysis indicated a stronger clinical utility within a certain probability threshold range. ConclusionsThis study constructs a nomogram predictive model based on factors related to the risk of breast cancer bone metastasis, which demonstrates a good consistency between actual and predicted outcomes in both training and validation sets. The nomogram shows a stronger clinical utility, but further analysis is needed to understand the reasons of the lower differentiation of nomogram in both sets.
ObjectiveTo compare the clinicopathological characteristics of breast invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) with different composition ratios, and analyze the relationship between proportion of micropapillary carcinoma components and the prognosis of IMPC. Methods The related data of 121 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) complicated with IMPC who were treated in the Department of Breast Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from August 2016 to August 2020 were collected. With micropapillary carcinoma accounting for 50%, the patients were divided into IMPC <50% group and IMPC ≥50% group. The correlation between related clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients was analyzed. Results There were 85 patients in the IMPC <50% group and 36 patients in the IMPC ≥50% group. The analysis results showed that there was no significant differences between the two groups in menstrual status, histological grade, molecular typing, TNM stage, age, immunohistochemical expression, neoadjuvant therapy, nerve invasion, nipple invasion, and skin invasion (P>0.05). The rate of lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI) in the IMPC ≥50% group was 83.33% (30/36), which was significantly higher than 61.18% (52/85) in the IMPC <50% group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (χ2=5.684, P=0.017). Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn, and the analysis results showed that the 3-year cumulative disease-free survival (DFS) of IMPC patients was correlated with the number of lymph node metastasis and LVI (P<0.05). And with the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, Ki-67, molecular typing, proportion of micropapillary carcinoma components and histological grade were unrelated (P>0.05). The results of multivariate Cox risk regression analysis showed that the number of lymph node metastases and LVI were independent prognostic factors affecting DFS in patients. Conclusions When the proportion of IMPC component is ≥50%, the LVI rate of tumor is higher than that of IMPC component <50%. The number of lymph node metastasis and LVI are independent prognostic factors affecting DFS in IMPC patients.