Locoregional recurrence and metastasis in the long-term follow-up of postmastectomy breast cancer patients with T1–T2 tumours and one to three positive lymph nodes

IntroductionIn this work we want to know the long-term rates of locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis in a population of breast cancer patients with pT1–pT2 tumours and one to three positive lymph nodes who were treated with mastectomy and axillary lymphadenectomy, and to study the relationship of certain clinical and histopathological parameters to their development.Material and methodsNinety patients diagnosed with a breast tumour of less than 5 cm and one to three affected lymph node, and undergoing a modified radical mastectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy, were studied. The mean overall follow-up was 132 months, and the minimum follow-up for the living patients was 10 years. Locoregional recurrence and metastasis development rates were studied and clinical and pathological parameters were evaluated.ResultsWe found locoregional recurrence in 22.5% of the patients, and systemic metastases in 30.3%. In the study of locoregional recurrences significant differences were found for tumour size (T2) (p=0.001) and metastasis were more frequent with extracapsular lymph node extension (p=0.02) and non-administration of chemotherapy (0.019).ConclusionsThe parameter related to the development of locoregional recurrence was tumour size (stage T2) and those related to the development of metastasis were extracapsular lymph node extension and non-administration of chemotherapy.