Abstract:
Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of extracapsular extension (ECE) in different levels of pathologi -cally-positive axillary lymph nodes of breast cancer. Methods:The clinical records of 1,230 breast cancer patients with pathologically-positive lymph nodes treated with surgical therapy were retrospectively reviewed. The influence of ECE in overall survival (OS) and local-regional failure -ree survival (LRFFs) in different levels of pathologically-positive lymph nodes (LN 1~3, LN 4~9, LN ≥10) were investigated. COX regression model was used to analyze the relationship be-tween tumor size, positive-exampled rate (PER), ECE and the prognosis. Results: In the 1~3 positive lymph nodes group, ECE had no significant influence on OS and LRFFS (P=0.9308; P=0.5909). In the 4~9 positive lymph nodes group, ECE had significant influence on OS and LRFFS ( P=0.0036, P=0.0175). In the ≥10positive lymph nodes group, ECE had signif-icant influence on OS ( P=0.0188) but not on LRFFS (P=0.0938). Cox regression analysis revealed a significance for tumor size, PER and ECE for prognosis of the total samples (P≤0.05). In the 1~3 positive lymph nodes group, only tumor size had significant influence (P=0.006 ) ; in the 4~9 positive lymph nodes group, only ECE had significant influence (P = 0.001 ); while in the≥10positive lymph nodes group, tumor size and PER had significant influence (P≤0.05). Conclusion:ECE could be an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer and the prognostic value is different according to thelymph nodes involved. For the patients with ≥4 positive lymph nodes, ECE is of significance in predicting the prognosis. ECE is an independent risk factor of poor prognosis especially for the 4~9 positive lymph nodes group. As the different effect, it might be relevant to take into consideration the presence of ECE in the planning of adjuvant therapeutic modalities.