Clinical Significance of Lymph-Node Ratio in Determining Supraclavicular Lymph-Node Radiation Therapy in pN1 Breast Cancer Patients Who Received Breast-Conserving Treatment (KROG 14-18): A Multicenter Study

This study evaluated the clinical significance of the lymph-node ratio (LNR) and its usefulness as an indicator of supraclavicular lymph-node radiation therapy (SCNRT) in pN1 breast cancer patients with disease-free survival (DFS) outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with pN1 breast cancer who underwent partial mastectomy and taxane-based sequential adjuvant chemotherapy with postoperative radiation therapy in 12 hospitals (n = 1121). We compared their DFS according to LNR, with a cut-off value of 0.10. The median follow-up period was 66 months (range, 3–112). Treatment failed in 73 patients (6.5%) and there was no significant difference in DFS between the SCNRT group and non-SCNRT group. High LNR (>0.10) showed significantly worse DFS in both univariate and multivariate analyses (0.010 and 0.033, respectively). In a subgroup analysis, the effect of SCNRT on DFS differed significantly among patients with LNR > 0.10 (p = 0.013). High LNR can be used as an independent prognostic factor for pN1 breast cancer patients treated with partial mastectomy and postoperative radiotherapy. It may also be useful in deciding whether to perform SCNRT to improve DFS.

Effects of trastuzumab on locoregional recurrence in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-overexpressing breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy

PURPOSE

In the present study, the ability of adjuvant trastuzumab to reduce locoregional recurrence in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-overexpressing breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) was investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively included 520 patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer who received surgery followed by adjuvant RT and cytotoxic chemotherapy from 2003 to 2011. Adjuvant trastuzumab was administered to 286 patients. Propensity score matching was conducted to compare trastuzumab-treated and non-treated cohorts.

RESULTS

Median follow-up duration was 7.1 years (range 1.1-14.1 years). Propensity score matching yielded 171 matched pairs of patients with no significantly different clinical factors. An improved 7-year locoregional control (LRC) rate was observed in the trastuzumab-treated cohort compared with the non-treated cohort (95.6% vs. 89.9%, p = 0.014). Based on multivariate analysis, hormone receptor negativity (hazard ratio [HR] = 5.348, p = 0.007), positive lymph node ratio > 0.25 (HR = 2.549, p = 0.040), and lack of adjuvant trastuzumab (HR = 3.401, p = 0.017) were identified as significant risk factors for poor LRC. Adjuvant trastuzumab significantly reduced the locoregional recurrence rate in patients with one or two risk factors (7-year LRC = 95.0% vs. 84.2%, p = 0.007); however, the benefit of adjuvant trastuzumab was non-significant in patients with no risk factors (7-year LRC = 95.8% vs. 97.9%, p = 0.75).

CONCLUSIONS

Adjuvant trastuzumab improved LRC in patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer receiving adjuvant RT and cytotoxic chemotherapy, especially in hormone receptor-negative, HER2-enriched subtype, and high positive lymph node ratio breast cancer.

Metastatic lymph node ratio successfully predicts prognosis in western gastric cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Lymph node positivity is a strong prognostic indicator in many cancers including gastric cancer. The extent of surgical resection directly influences the number of lymph nodes available for staging, with the lesser D1 resection that is standard practice in non-Asian countries typically providing fewer nodes for analysis. The widely used AJCC TNM staging system has been criticized for under-staging and stage migration where fewer than 15 nodes are resected, which is often the case in these populations. The ratio of positive to total nodes harvested--Lymph Node Ration (LNR)--has been proposed as an improved and more widely applicable prognostic indicator.

HYPOTHESIS

The LNR is a reliable and accurate prognostic indicator of survival in a Western gastric cancer population.

METHODS

9357 patients were acquired via a SEER case listing session with 2004-2011 gastric adenocarcinoma diagnoses. AJCC 7th edition nodal staging (N0: 0, N1:1-2, N2:3-6, N3:≥7 positive lymph nodes) and LNR positive nodal staging (PN0: 0%, PN1: 1-20%, PN2: 21-50%, PN3: 51-100% of examined nodes positive) were compared as respects seven year survivorship.

RESULTS

Adjusted survival time ratios for AJCC nodal curves were less evenly distributed than were the percent positive nodal curves. Results of multiple regression reflected that survival time ratios of the percent positive nodal schema being more evenly spaced than those of the AJCC schema. Because BIC for AJCC, 41071.48, was larger than that for percent positive nodes, 41024.25, the LNR nodal system better explained survival than the AJCC nodal classification system.

CONCLUSION

LNR produced reliable and internally consistent survival curves for this population. LNR is an effective tool to predict survival in a western gastric cancer patient population, where the majority of the patients have limited lymph node dissection.