The Relation of Sinus Histiocytosis in Axillary Lymph Nodes to Surgical Curability of Carcinoma of the Breast

Abstract

Based on a minimal 10 year follow up, 203 patients with carcinoma of the breast were studied to search for a correlation be- tween sinus histiocytosis and long term curability. The group of patients were extremely uniform with regard to criteria of operability, operative technique and method of pathologic study. A total of 3895 lymph nodes were evaluated with an average of 19 per patient. No correlation emerged for the group as a whole. However, in a group of 100 patients whose primary tumor was not of any special pathologic type and who also had axillary metastases there seemed to be an conspicuous correlation between sinus histiocytosis and 10 or more year curability.