Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026
Single-port Non-liposuction Endoscopic Axillary Lymph Node Dissection in Breast Cancer Surgery
Published on: April 3, 2026
[Axillary lymph node involvement in hormone-independent breast carcinomas]
Alvaro Ruibal1, José Ignacio Arias
1Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Hospital Clínico, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario, Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Spain.
Background And Objective:
We decided to study the axillary lymph node invasion (N) in hormone-independent breast cancer.
Patients And Method:
The study group included 77 ER and 47 ER/PgR breast carcinomas. Both ER and PgR were determined using EIAS from Abbott (USA).
Results:
In ER tumors, one the most important finding was the high concentration (p = 0.001) and percentage of positives ( > 50 pmol/mg prot.; 24/41 vs 7/36; p < 0.01) of cathepsin D observed in N+ vs N- tumors. In ER/PgR negative tumors, lymph node involvement was associated with a same behavior of this proteinase (p = 0.021; 17/31 vs 2/16; p = 0.006) exclusively.
Conclusions:
Our results point to a possible usefulness of cathepsin D in this type of carcinomas.
