Objective: This study evaluates whether nodal status differs between breast cancer patients with BRCA mutations and those confirmed not to harbor mutations.
Methods: A prospective database identified patients with breast cancer who underwent genetic testing and axillary staging. Comparative variables included age, as well as tumor characteristics such as size, grade, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-neu), and nodal status.
Results: Overall, 235 patients with breast cancer underwent genetic testing for BRCA mutations from June 2000 to May 2012. Of these patients, 74 (31.4 %) were found to express BRCA 1 and/or 2 mutations, and 161 (68.5 %) patients were verified to have no detectable BRCA mutation. Among the entire 235 patients tested, 92 (39.1 %) were found to have nodal disease. In univariable analysis, only LVI and tumor size correlated with presence of nodal metastasis. Of the 74 BRCA mutation carriers, 34 (45.9 %) had nodal metastasis compared with 58 of the 161 (36 %; p = 0.15) patients without a BRCA mutation. BRCA mutation carriers with nodal disease were more likely to have poorly differentiated tumors than those without mutations who had nodal disease (24/33 [72.7 %] vs. 27/57 [47.4 %]; p = 0.027).
Conclusion: BRCA mutations are not themselves predictive of nodal metastasis. Patients with BRCA mutations did not have a statistically significant higher prevalence of nodal metastasis than those without mutations.