Invasive carcinoma of the breast: Prognostic significance of tumor size and involved axillary lymph nodes

The clinical records were reviewed of 1034 patients who had invasive carcinomas of the breast treated with radical mastectomy at Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital-Cancer Research Center between 1940 and 1965. There was a correspondence between the size of tumors and both the frequency of axillary nodal involvement and patient survival. Although patients with nodal involvement had lower survival rates than those without, small tumor size was associated with a relatively favorable prognosis within each nodal category. These findings tend to support the value of early diagnosis of breast cancer.