We aimed to evaluate whether obese women experience more advanced invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) with a higher number of involved lymph nodes, higher range of axillary lymph node ratio (LNR) and presence and size of extracapsular extension as it may have an impact on prognosis and management. 245 patients diagnosed with IBC were divided into normal weight (NW), overweight (OW) and obese (OB) groups. Patients were divided into high range of LNR (LNR over or equal to 0.2) and low LNR (LNR less than 0.2). The extracapsular extension dimensions were measured on the original slides of each case and grouped into ≤ 1 mm and > 1 mm. 84 patients (33.07%) were OW, 72 (29.38%) OB and 91 (37.14%) NW. 45.7% of cases had macrometastasis in the axillary lymph nodes. NW patients had significantly fewer metastatic lymph nodes (p = 0.05) than in the OW/OB groups. There was no statistically significant difference between BMI groups according to the LNR (p = 0.66). Out of 111 cases with macrometastasis, 58 cases (52.25%) had extracapsular extension (ECE) (11.7% NW, 24.32% OW and 16.22% OB). Significantly more OW patients presented extranodal invasion (p = 0.04). We found no statistically significant relationship between the extracapsular extension diameter and BMI groups (p = 0.1).
Keywords: breast cancer; lymph node metastasis; obesity.