Abstract

RODRIGUEZ ALBERTERI, Yamilka et al. Validity and safety of clinical axillary staging in infiltrating breast carcinoma. Rev Cubana Cir [online]. 2013, vol.52, n.3, pp.173-182. ISSN 0034-7493.

Introduction: The correct clinical staging of breast cancer contributes to the success of treatment and it must be based on valid and safe diagnostic tests. Objective: To determine the validity and safety of clinical axillary staging in breast cancer. Methods: A retrospective study of 74 and 63 patients with infiltrating breast carcinoma and surgery as first choice of treatment, who were attended to in the National Institute of Oncology at Havana city and in Oncologic Center of Holguín in the first semester of 2010 and 2012, respectively. The validity and the safety of clinical axillary staging used in both centers together and in each one in isolation were determined: in the first case, the calculation of sensitivity, specificity and complementary error rates were considered: proportion of false positives and false negatives to determine validity, and positive and negative predictive values taken as safety rates. The gold test was the histopathological diagnosis. Results: In the three cases, sensitivity over 54 % demonstrated the probability of the used methods to detect positive axilla when there was metastatic invasion whereas specificity over 71 % proved the capacity of clinical axillary staging to clinically classify the non-affected axillae as negative. A clinical positive axilla was twice more likely in a patient with axillary invasion than in another one without metastases at this level. In the three cases, the positive predictive values surpassed 61 % and the negative ones exceeded 73 %. Conclusions: the clinical axillary staging in both centers was a valid and safe diagnostic test in patients with infiltrating breast cancer and surgery as first choice of treatment.

Keywords : breast cancer; axillary staging; validity; safety; sensitivity; specificity; predictive value.

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