ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is currently the recommended procedure in patients with tumor-positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). A significant proportion of patients with positive SLNs will not have any additional metastases in nonsentinel lymph nodes (NSLNs). Predictive nomograms could identify a subgroup of patients with low or high risk of further disease in whom completion ALND can be avoided or recommended. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the currently available 7 nomograms in a cohort of British patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 138 patients with positive SLNs who underwent completion ALND were identified. Data were then used to calculate the probability of further metastases in NSLNs predicted by the 7 nomograms that are currently in use: the MSKCC (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), Cambridge, Turkish, Stanford, MDACC (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Tenon, and MOU (Masarykuv onkologický ústav, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute) models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was calculated for each nomogram. RESULTS: Of the 138 patients, 54 (41%) had additional metastases in NSLNs. AUC values for the MSKCC, Cambridge, Turkish, Stanford, MDACC, Tenon, and MOU models are 0.68, 0.68, 0.70, 0.69, 0.56, 0.63, and 0.74, respectively. CONCLUSION: The MOU nomogram was more predictive than the other nomograms, with a better AUC value and false-negative rate. None of the models were able to achieve AUC value ≥ 0.80 in a cohort of British patients with breast cancer.
