Excision of both pretreatment marked positive nodes and sentinel nodes improves axillary staging after neoadjuvant systemic therapy in breast cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Marking the axilla with radioactive iodine seed and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy have been proposed for axillary staging after neoadjuvant systemic therapy in clinically node-positive breast cancer. This study evaluated the identification rate and detection of residual disease with combined excision of pretreatment-positive marked lymph nodes (MLNs) together with SLNs.

Methods

This was a multicentre retrospective analysis of patients with clinically node-positive breast cancer undergoing neoadjuvant systemic therapy and the combination procedure (with or without axillary lymph node dissection). The identification rate and detection of axillary residual disease were calculated for the combination procedure, and for MLNs and SLNs separately.

Results

At le

SUBMITTER: Simons JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6856822 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature