Clinicopathological Characteristics of Breast Cancers with Axillary Skip Metastases

ABSTRACTObjective: The presence of discontinuous or “skip” metastases in breast cancer is crucial for determining the optimal therapeutic choice. In this study, we compared the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with or without skip metastases (SMs). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 1,502 breast cancer patients who underwent radical mastectomy and a separate group of 118 patients who had sentinel lymph node biopsies (SLNB). The median follow-up time was 10 years. Results: Axillary lymph nodes (ALN) were involved in 814/1502 patients, and SMs was found in 119 patients (14.6%). Age, tumor size, location, clinical stage, and the proportion of interpectoral lymph node (IPN) metastases were similar in patients with or without SMs (p > .05). In stage I and II disease, the event-free survival rate of patients with SMs was significantly lower than patients without (p .05). The Cox multivariate anal...