Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of axillary lymph node micrometastases and the microvessel count on the prognosis of patients with breast cancer.
METHODS Forty-eight patients with breast cancer, who had no tumor cells in their regional lymph nodes based on conventional histopathologic examination, were re-examined with immunohistochemical LSAB techniques. H&E, anti-EMA, CK 19 and FVIII factor staining was used to identify tumor cells in both lymph nodes and tumor tissues and to count the microvessels. A total of 882 lymph nodes were examined.
RESULTS Immunostaining-positive tumor cells were found in 9.0 % (79/882) of the dissected lymph nodes. The positive rates were not significantly different between a surviving group and a deceased group (P>0.05). The microvessel count was significantly higher in group that had died (P<0.001).
CONCLUSION The lymph node micrometastases did not show any correlation with patients survival, but the microvessel density had a negative correlation with the survival period in breast cancer patients who had negative axillary lymph nodes.
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- Received May 21, 2004.
- Accepted June 30, 2004.
- Copyright © 2004 by Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital and Springer