Earlier Diagnosis Of Mammary Cancer And Study Of Correlation Between Expression Of ER, PR, And C-erbB-2 And Metastasis Of Axillary Lymph Nodes

Objectives Mammary cancer is one of the most common maligant tumors in women. The critical steps to enhance the survival rate of the patients lie in early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the power of mammography in conjunction with fine needle aspiration cytology on the early diagnosis of breast cancer, and to investigate the association between the metastasis of axillary lymph nodes and the expression of the ER ( Estrogen Receptor ) , PR ( Progesterone Receptor) , and C-erbB-2 in breast cancer tissue. Methods Out of the total 163 patients with early breast cancer, 45 patients of breast cancer detected with preoperative mammography, 69 patients with preoperative fine needle aspiration cytology and 49 patients with both. All these results were compared with the pathologic results of post-operation. The relationship between the expressions of the ER, PR, and C-erbB-2 of the cancer tissue in 130 patients with early breast cancer detected by immunohistochemical staining (S-P method) and the metastasis of axillary lymph nodes was analyzed. Results 36 out of 45 patients(80%) examined by mammography were positive, and 56 out of 69 patients(81.2%) detected by fine needle aspiration cytology were positive, while 47 out of 49 patients(95.9%) demonstrated by both methods were positive. A significant difference was noted among these three diagnostic methods, favoring the combination of both ways (P<0.05). The positive rates of ER, PR, and C-erbB-2 were 52.3%9 (68/130), 49.2% (64/130), and 50.8% (6/130), respectively. There was a correlation between the metastasis of axillary lymph nodes and the expressions of ER and PR (x 2=6.44, P<0.05), and C-erbB-2 (x 2=4.07, P<0.05),respectively. Conclusions The ratio for the early diagnosis of breast cancer could be improved via the application of mammography combined with fine needle aspiration cytology. The positive expressions of ER and PR in breast cancer tissue are lower in patients with axillary lymph nodes metastasis. The metastasis of axillary lymph nodes was significantly correlated with the expressions of C-erbB-2 in breast cancer.