Table 2 Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and intraoperative variables of sentinel lymph node positive invasive breast cancers (n = 104) in which SLN#1 was and was not the first positive SLN.

Age (mean ± SD, years)

53 ± 11

59 ± 11

0.042

Height (mean ± SD, inches)

64 ± 2

64 ± 2

0.804

Weight (mean ± SD, pounds)

164 ± 31

165 ± 36

0.883

BMI (mean ± SD, kg/m²)

28.2 ± 5.7

28.2 ± 6.1

0.984

Breast size

0.991

   Small

9 (11%)

2 (11%)

   Medium

35 (41%)

7 (39%)

   Large

30 (35%)

6 (33%)

   Not available

12 (14%)

3 (17%)

Palpable tumor

54 (63%)

12 (67%)

0.756

Tumor location

0.352

   UOQ

45 (52%)

11 (61%)

   LOQ

19 (22%)

2 (11%)

   UIQ

9 (10%)

4 (22%)

   LIQ

5 (6%)

1 (6%)

   Central

8 (9%)

0 (0%)

Type of diagnostic breast biopsy

0.380

   Core

66 (77%)

12 (67%)

   Excisional

20 (23%)

6 (33%)

Pathologic T-stage

0.056

   T1

41 (48%)

14 (78%)

   T2

40 (47%)

3 (17%)

   T3

5 (6%)

1 (6%)

Histopathology

0.032

   Ductal

79 (92%)

13 (72%)

   Lobular

4 (5%)

2 (11%)

   Mixed Ductal-Lobular

2 (2%)

3 (17%)

   Other

1 (1%)

0 (0%)

Histologic grade

0.584

   Well-differentiated

12 (14%)

4 (22%)

   Moderately-differentiated

31 (36%)

7 (39%)

   Poorly-differentiated

43 (50%)

7 (39%)

Estrogen receptor positive

67 (78%)

15 (83%)

0.758

Progesterone receptor positive

55 (64%)

12 (67%)

0.827

HER-2/neu positive

23 (27%)

3 (17%)

0.551

Lymphovascular invasion

37 (43%)

4 (22%)

0.101

Route of injection of ^{99 m}Tc-sulfur colloid

0.450

   Intradermal

34 (40%)

10 (56%)

   Intraparenchymal

24 (28%)

4 (22%)

   Subareolar

28 (33%)

4 (22%)

Surgery performed at time of SLN biopsy

0.789

   Lumpectomy

49 (57%)

10 (56%)

   Mastectomy

35 (41%)

8 (44%)

   SLN biopsy alone

2 (2%)

0 (0%)

Time from ^{99 m}Tc-sulfur colloid injection to SLN biopsy (mean ± SD, minutes)

278 ± 57

283 ± 56

0.705