Patient and tumour factors affecting the histology of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer patients at Universitas Academic Hospital, Bloemfontein

Abstract

Introduction: SLNB has become accepted standard staging tool in clinically node negative breast cancer patients. Aim(s): Primary aim was to determine factors (demographics and tumor factors) affecting histology of SLNB. Secondary aim was to determine the histological characteristics of the SLNB and final histological status of the axilla if SLNB was positive. Methods: Retrospective analytical study of patients who underwent mastectomy or lumpectomy with SLNB from 2007 to 2016 (n=60) at Universitas Academic Hospital. Results: Demographics : Age ranged from 36 to 90 years and its association with positive SLNB histology was close to statistically significant (p-value 0.0242). Tumour factors: Location of the tumour, type of tumour, size of tumour all with pvalue of 1.000, histological type (p-value 0.7464), grade (p-value 0.6244), lymphovascular infiltration (p-value 1.000) and hormonal receptors status (ER-positive p-value 0.6434, PR-positive p-value 0.7290, HER-positive p-value 0.2341 and ER/PR/HER-positive p-value 1.000) did not have statistically significant association with positive SLNB histology. There was a statistically significant association between positive SLNB histology and final histology of the axilla (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: The study did not prove our hypothesis that, tumour size, site, grade, lymphovascular infiltration and hormone receptors will affect histology of SLNB. Age nearly affected histology of SLNB. Small sample size and incomplete lymphovascular infiltration reporting might have affected results. There was statistically significant association between histology of SLNB and histology of the axilla.