Survival analysis of patients with 10 or more axillary lymph nodes compromised by breast cancer

Resumo

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate survival in patients with 10 or more compromised axillary lymph
nodes. Methodology: This is a retrospective cohort study conducted in a private oncology clinic in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil,
in the period 1999–2023, where medical records of 12 patients with breast cancer who had 10 or more compromised axillary lymph nodes were analyzed. The following variables were observed: patient age, histological type of tumor, tumor
size, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, perineural invasion, number of lymph nodes dissected, number of axillary
lymph nodes compromised, treatment with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, occurrence of recurrence and/or metastasis, and patient survival. Survival functions were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. This study was approved
by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Estadual do Piauí (CEP-UESPI), Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, opinion
number 4.311.835. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.66 years. The mean tumor size was 4.6 cm. There was a
predominance of invasive carcinoma of the non-special histological type (10–83.33%), followed by invasive lobular carcinoma (1–8.33%) and invasive tubular carcinoma (1–8.33%). As for lymphovascular invasion, 6 (50%) patients had vascular
invasion, 7 (58.33%) had lymphatic invasion, and 3 (25%) had perineural invasion. The mean number of LAX compromised
was 13.17, while the mean number of lymph nodes dissected was 20.25. Of the 12 patients, 9 were treated with radiotherapy (75%) and 10 were treated with chemotherapy (83.33%). Of the total, 6 (50%) patients had some form of recurrence,
of whom 4 progressed to death. Distant metastasis occurred in 4 (30%) patients. Conclusion: The survival rate in a time
interval of 5 years for patients with 10 or more compromised axillary lymph nodes was 51.6%.