Associations between clinicopathological characteristics and non-SLN metastasis
| Clinicopathological characteristics | Positive non-SLNs, n (%) | Negative non-SLNs, n | Total | χ2 | P |
| Gender | - | - | |||
| Male | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Female | 95 (32.2) | 200 | 295 | ||
| Age (years) | 0.147 | 0.702 | |||
| <50 | 45 (31.3) | 100 | 145 | ||
| ≥50 | 50 (33.1) | 101 | 151 | ||
| Mammary gland | 0.190 | 0.663 | |||
| Left | 47 (33.3) | 94 | 141 | ||
| Right | 48 (31.0) | 107 | 155 | ||
| Location of primary mass | 2.739 | 0.602 | |||
| Outer upper | 42 (37.2) | 71 | 113 | ||
| Outer under | 9 (34.6) | 17 | 26 | ||
| Upper inner | 18 (26.5) | 50 | 68 | ||
| Lower inner | 5 (33.3) | 10 | 15 | ||
| Other | 24 (30.4) | 55 | 79 | ||
| Multicentric, multifocal | 3.842 | 0.050 | |||
| Yes | 12 (50) | 12 | 24 | ||
| No | 83 (30.5) | 189 | 272 | ||
| Clinical tumor size | 0.528 | 0.468 | |||
| T1 | 52 (30.4) | 119 | 171 | ||
| ≥T2 | 43 (34.4) | 82 | 125 | ||
| Surgery | 0.956 | 0.328 | |||
| Mastectomy | 81 (33.3) | 162 | 243 | ||
| Breast conversing surgery | 14 (26.4) | 39 | 53 | ||
| Tracer method | 1.113 | 0.573 | |||
| Blue dye alone | 23 (35.4) | 42 | 65 | ||
| Blue dye + radioisotope | 28 (28.0) | 72 | 100 | ||
| Blue dye + fluorescence | 44 (33.6) | 87 | 131 | ||
| Number of SLN detected | 1.917 | 0.166 | |||
| 1–2 | 42 (36.8) | 72 | 114 | ||
| ≥3 | 53 (29.1) | 129 | 182 | ||
| Metastatic SLN | 20.207 | <0.001 | |||
| 1 | 56 (28.1) | 143 | 199 | ||
| 2 | 18 (27.3) | 48 | 66 | ||
| ≥3 | 21 (67.7) | 10 | 31 | ||
SLN transfer ratio | 0.003 | 0.957 | |||
<50% | 46 (31.9) | 98 | 144 | ||
≥50% | 49 (32.2) | 103 | 152 | ||
SLN 100% positive | 0.963 | 0.327 | |||
Yes | 19 (38.0) | 31 | 50 | ||
No | 76 (30.9) | 170 | 246 | ||
SLN transfer size | 5.132 | 0.023 | |||
ITC | 0 (0) | 2 | 2 | ||
Micro | 8 (17.8) | 37 | 45 | ||
Macro | 87 (34.9) | 162 | 249 | ||
Primary pathological type | 0.164 | 0.686 | |||
IDC | 90 (32.4) | 188 | 276 | ||
Other | 5 (27.8) | 13 | 18 | ||
Histological grade | 1.343 | 0.719 | |||
1 | 4 (25) | 12 | 16 | ||
2 | 68 (34) | 132 | 200 | ||
3 | 20 (30.0) | 47 | 67 | ||
Unclear | 3 (23.1) | 10 | 13 | ||
ER | 0.180 | 0.671 | |||
Negative | 12 (35.2) | 22 | 34 | ||
Positive | 83 (31.7) | 179 | 262 | ||
PR | 0.037 | 0.847 | |||
Negative | 18 (31.0) | 40 | 58 | ||
Positive | 77 (34.9) | 161 | 238 | ||
HER-2 | 0.023 | 0.988 | |||
Negative | 72 (32.0) | 153 | 225 | ||
Positive | 19 (32.8) | 39 | 58 | ||
Critical value | 4 (30.8) | 9 | 13 | ||
Ki-67 | 0.545 | 0.761 | |||
<14% | 29 (29.9) | 68 | 97 | ||
≥14% | 62 (32.8) | 127 | 189 | ||
Unclear | 4 (40.0) | 6 | 10 | ||
Molecular classification | 0.406 | 0.939 | |||
Luminal A | 22 (29.7) | 52 | 74 | ||
Luminal B | 57 (32.0) | 121 | 178 | ||
HER-2 | 5 (33.3) | 10 | 15 | ||
Triple negative | 6 (37.5) | 10 | 16 | ||
Unclear or unable to classify | 5 (38.5) | 8 | 13 | ||
Lymph-vascular invasion | 11.146 0.004 | ||||
No | 17 (19.8) | 69 | 86 | ||
Yes | 72 (39.1) | 112 | 184 | ||
Unclear | 6 (23.1) | 20 | 26 |
SLN transfer ratio: number of SLN involved/number of SLN detected. Macro: macrometastasis; Micro: micrometastasis; ITC: isolated tumor cells.