M. Noguchi et al., FURTHER ANALYSIS OF PREDICTIVE VALUE OF HELIX-POMATIA LECTIN-BINDING TO PRIMARY BREAST-CANCER FOR AXILLARY AND INTERNAL MAMMARY LYMPH-NODE METASTASES, British Journal of Cancer, 67(6), 1993, pp. 1368-1371
We investigated the relation between Helix pomatia (HPA) staining of p
rimary breast cancer and the presence of axillary (AX) or internal mam
mary (IM) metastases, and evaluated its predictive value for AX or IM
metastases in comparison with the use of clinical variables. There was
a significant association between the HPA staining and AX or IM metas
tases. When HPA staining was regarded as an indicator of AX metastases
, a diagnostic accuracy of 72%, a sensitivity of 69% and a specificity
of 75% were achieved. As an indicator of IM metastases, these values
were 64%, 76% and 62%, respectively. In predicting the presence of AX
metastases using a discriminant function with clinical AX status, loca
tion of tumour and tumour size, diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and s
pecificity were 79%, 69% and 87%, respectively. In predicting the pres
ence of IM metastases using the discriminant function with clinical AX
status and tumour size, these values were 74%, 71% and 75%, respectiv
ely. Therefore, it was concluded that the HPA staining may be useful,
but it was equivalent with the discriminant function with clinical var
iables in prediction of AX or IM metastases.