Tumor Characteristics Associated with Axillary Nodal Positivity in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Larger-size primary tumors are correlated with axillary metastases and worse outcomes. We evaluated the relationships among tumor size, location, and distance to nipple relative to axillary node metastases in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients, as well as the predictive capacity of imaging. We conducted a single-institution, retrospective chart review of stage I–III TNBC patients diagnosed from 1998 to 2019 who underwent upfront surgery. Seventy-three patients had a mean tumor size of 20 mm (range 1–53 mm). All patients were clinically node negative. Thirty-two patients were sentinel lymph node positive, of whom 25 underwent axillary lymph node dissection. Larger tumor size was associated with positive nodes (p p = 0.005). The presence of LVI was associated with nodal positivity (p p < 0.002). Comparative analyses with other subtypes may identify biologic determinants.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• axillary lymph node metastasis
• triple negative subtype