Clinical Assessment of Axillary Lymph Nodes and Tumor Size in Breast Cancer Compared with Histopathological Examination: A Population-Based Analysis of 2,537 Women.
(2013) In World Journal of Surgery 37(1). p.67-71- Abstract
- BACKGROUND: The clinical assessment of axillary lymph nodes status and tumor size is important for the management of patients with breast cancer. The first goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of axillary lymph node status in relation to the presence of metastases as revealed by histopathological examination. The second goal was to compare the tumor size as assessed by physical examination, with the size obtained by histopathological examination. METHODS: This study was based on a consecutive series of 2,537 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in Malmö, Sweden, between 1987 and 2002. These patients had available information in the South Swedish Breast Cancer Group registry, corresponding to 97 %. The axillary lymph nodes... (More)
- BACKGROUND: The clinical assessment of axillary lymph nodes status and tumor size is important for the management of patients with breast cancer. The first goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of axillary lymph node status in relation to the presence of metastases as revealed by histopathological examination. The second goal was to compare the tumor size as assessed by physical examination, with the size obtained by histopathological examination. METHODS: This study was based on a consecutive series of 2,537 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in Malmö, Sweden, between 1987 and 2002. These patients had available information in the South Swedish Breast Cancer Group registry, corresponding to 97 %. The axillary lymph nodes status was compared with the results of the histopathological examination for the presence of metastases. Tumor size by physical examination was compared with the tumor size after histopathological examination. RESULTS: There were 674 women with axillary lymph nodes metastases according to histological examination; only 206 of these cases had palpable lymph nodes at clinical examination. The sensitivity was 30 % and the specificity 93 %. There were 812 tumors measured to be larger than 20 mm according to histopathological examination, but only 665 of these tumors were considered larger than 20 mm by clinical examination. This corresponded to a sensitivity of 81 % and a specificity of 80 %. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the possibility of axillary metastases estimated by clinical examination is subjected to a large proportion of false-positive and false-negative results. Similarly, tumor size estimated by clinical examination is subject to under- and overestimation in comparison to histopathological examination. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3123942
- author
- Majid, Shabaz LU ; Tengrup, Ingrid and Manjer, Jonas LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- World Journal of Surgery
- volume
- 37
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 67 - 71
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000312808400009
- pmid:22976793
- scopus:84871725192
- pmid:22976793
- ISSN
- 1432-2323
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00268-012-1788-5
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 10e3d189-9d1a-4d75-b6c1-c4d774b1e360 (old id 3123942)
- alternative location
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22976793?dopt=Abstract
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:13:13
- date last changed
- 2022-03-21 17:22:48
@article{10e3d189-9d1a-4d75-b6c1-c4d774b1e360,
abstract = {{BACKGROUND: The clinical assessment of axillary lymph nodes status and tumor size is important for the management of patients with breast cancer. The first goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of axillary lymph node status in relation to the presence of metastases as revealed by histopathological examination. The second goal was to compare the tumor size as assessed by physical examination, with the size obtained by histopathological examination. METHODS: This study was based on a consecutive series of 2,537 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in Malmö, Sweden, between 1987 and 2002. These patients had available information in the South Swedish Breast Cancer Group registry, corresponding to 97 %. The axillary lymph nodes status was compared with the results of the histopathological examination for the presence of metastases. Tumor size by physical examination was compared with the tumor size after histopathological examination. RESULTS: There were 674 women with axillary lymph nodes metastases according to histological examination; only 206 of these cases had palpable lymph nodes at clinical examination. The sensitivity was 30 % and the specificity 93 %. There were 812 tumors measured to be larger than 20 mm according to histopathological examination, but only 665 of these tumors were considered larger than 20 mm by clinical examination. This corresponded to a sensitivity of 81 % and a specificity of 80 %. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the possibility of axillary metastases estimated by clinical examination is subjected to a large proportion of false-positive and false-negative results. Similarly, tumor size estimated by clinical examination is subject to under- and overestimation in comparison to histopathological examination.}},
author = {{Majid, Shabaz and Tengrup, Ingrid and Manjer, Jonas}},
issn = {{1432-2323}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{67--71}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{World Journal of Surgery}},
title = {{Clinical Assessment of Axillary Lymph Nodes and Tumor Size in Breast Cancer Compared with Histopathological Examination: A Population-Based Analysis of 2,537 Women.}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3237455/3683767.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00268-012-1788-5}},
volume = {{37}},
year = {{2013}},
}