Analysis of the Influencing Factors of Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis in Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVE: To analyze and discuss the influencing factors of sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. METHODS: A total of 469 breast cancer patients admitted in the Department of Pathology of Guangdong Women and Children Hospital from October 2016 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The general information, immunohistochemical expression, tumor molecular subtype, tumor size, histological grade, pathological type, and tumor location were collected and the relationship with sentinel lymph node metastasis was analyzed. RESULTS: For patients with different age, Ki-67 and Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) immunohistochemical expression level (invasive cancer), molecular subtype (invasive cancer), tumor size, histological grade (invasive cancer) and pathological type. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the age was less than or equal to 40 years; the molecular subtype was Luminal B and HER-2 overexpression (invasive cancer); tumor was larger; the histological grade (invasive cancer) was higher; the pathological type was invasive carcinoma, there were independent risk factors for sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer. The sentinel lymph node metastasis rates of invasive lobular carcinoma, invasive micropapillary carcinoma, and metaplastic carcinoma (all met the criteria for squamous cell carcinoma and histological grade III) were higher than 50% in special invasive carcinomas. CONCLUSION: Age, expression level of Ki 67 and HER-2, molecular typing, tumor volume and histological grade are all high-risk factors related to sentinel lymph node metastasis of breast cancer. When one or more of the above factors are involved in an examination, pathologists should be more cautious in making a sentinel lymph node frozen diagnosis. By standardizing the sampling and increasing the number of frozen sections (slicing more frozen tissue layers), the section quality can be improved. This may be conducive to reducing the false negative rate and reducing the pain and risk of secondary surgery.