Use of primary breast carcinoma characteristics to predict lymph node metastases

Analysis of primary cancer features has enabled the authors of the referenced article to define a large proportion of patients with T1 (≤2 cm) invasive breast carcinomas that do not require axillary lymph node dissection. If lymph node histology is required for detailed staging or prognostic data, it will be obtainable by use of physiologically defined "sentinel" lymph node biopsy under local anesthesia. The primary thrust of breast carcinoma control today should be the achievement of universal mammographic screening of appropriately aged women, which has the potential of reducing the median maximum dimensions of all invasive breast carcinomas to only 1 cm within a decade, with commensurate marked reduction of lymph node metastases. See also pages 1862–1864 and 1918-1922.