Imaging Predictors for Nonsentinel Lymph Node Metastases in Breast Cancer Patients

The relationship between imaging features and nonsentinel lymph node (NSLN) metastasis is not clear.

To determine whether imaging features could predict NSLN metastasis in sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive breast cancer patients and to provide new clues for avoiding unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection.

171 patients with clinically negative axillary lymph nodes and a pathologically positive SLN were recruited between January 2007 and January 2014. According to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS), the effects of clinicopathological factors, especially imaging features, on NSLN metastases were assessed by univariate and multivariate statistical analyses.

The average number of dissected SLNs was 2.11 (range, 1-6); 56 of the 171 (32.75%) patients exhibited NSLN metastases. In univariate analysis, tumor size, number of positive SLNs, ratio of positive SLNs, mammographic mass margins, ultrasonographic mass margins, and ultrasonographic vascularity were significantly correlated with NSLN involvement. Furthermore, through multivariate analysis, tumor size, number of positive SLNs, mammographic mass margins, and ultrasonographic vascularity were still independent predictors of NSLN involvement. Additionally, in SLN-positive patients, number of positive SLNs and ultrasonographic vascularity could also predict the tumor burden in NSLN.

In addition to tumor size and the number of positive SLNs, mammographic mass margins and ultrasonographic vascularity were also independent predictors of NSLN metastases in SLN-positive patients of breast cancer. The number of positive SLNs and ultrasonographic vascularity could also predict the tumor burden in NSLN.