Axillary lymph node status according to location, size, number and grading among breast cancer patients in tertiary care hospitals, Bangladesh

Background: There are a good number of tumor-related features available to predict the prognosis of breast cancer and its stage of severity. Axillary lymph node status according to the location, size, number, and grading among breast cancer patients have a potential prognostic value in the course of breast cancer treatment, mortality, and morbidity. We have very limited researched-based information regarding these issues. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to assess the axillary LN status according to location and grade of tumor also size and number of axillary LN among breast cancer patients. Methods: This was axillary LN status according to the location of a prospective observational study conducted in the Department of Surgery & Oncology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, BSMMU, and NICRH Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from January 2015 to December 2016. In total 100 patients of several age groups with breast cancer, patients attended, diagnosed, and treated in the mentioned hospital were selected as the study subjects. Proper clinical examination and ultrasonography for the assessment of axillary lymph node status were done for every participant. All data were processed, analyzed, and disseminated by MS Office and SPSS program as per need. Results: In location analysis, we observed, most of the tumors were located in the upper outer quadrant (57%) followed by 22.0%, 17.0%, and 4.0% were located in the upper inner quadrant, lower outer quadrant, and in other locations respectively. Most of the tumors were of Grade II (67%) followed by 21.0% and 12.0% were of grade I and grade III respectively. Maximum 52.5% patients of this study had a lymph node with the size of 1-2 cm followed by 25.0% and 22.5% patients had lymph nodes with the size of >2cm and 9. Both clinical examination and USG showed positive results in increasing the number of lymph nodes. Conclusion: In analyzing the location, size, number, and grading of axillary lymph node among breast cancer patients by using clinical examination and USG findings, we found statistically significant correlations in the size and number of the lymph node. So, we can conclude that the location & grade of tumor and number & size of axillary lymph node among breast cancer patients are the most potent indicators of severity and status of breast cancer.