Predictive Factors for Unnecessary Axillary Dissection According to SLN Metastasis in T1, T2 Stage Breast Cancer

The axillary nodes’ status is essential in determining the treatment algorithm according to complete clinical staging. Unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) has been prevented after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has occurred in current practice. However, approximately half of patients with positive SLNB do not have axillary metastatic lymph nodes. Our study aims to predict unnecessary ALND in patients with SLN metastases by evaluating the patients’ clinicopathological data. In total, 221 patients with macrometastasis in SLNB who underwent completion ALND were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups: patients with metastases only in the sentinel lymph node and additional axillary lymph nodes. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the correlation between SLN metastasis and axillary lymph node metastasis; clinicopathological characteristics, including patient age, menopause status, tumor size and grade, receptor status proliferative marker status, and molecular subtypes of the tumor. In the evaluation of T1–2, cN0 breast cancer patients with SLNB in the form of macrometastasis, only SLNB metastasis was found in 118 (53.4%) patients. In 103 (46.6%) patients, additional axillary node metastasis was observed. The risk of additional nodal spread correlated with patient age older than fertility age (age of 49) (p = 0.015, OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.14–3.39) and the number of increased metastatic sentinel nodes (p < 0.001). In line with the data shown by our study, the rate of axillary metastases increases in patients over the age of fertility and as the number of metastatic SLNs increases.