Decreasing Use of Axillary Dissection in Node-Positive Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Background

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) may downstage axillary disease in node-positive breast cancer. Several clinical trials have shown that sentinel lymph node (SLN) surgery after NAC is feasible for these patients. We sought to evaluate the use of SLN surgery and ALND in cN1 patients undergoing NAC.

Methods

We identified all patients with biopsy-proven cN1 breast cancer treated with NAC at our institution between January 2009 and December 2017. Approximated biologic subtype was determined by estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. Cochran–Armitage trend and Chi square tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results

Of 430 cN1 patients treated with NAC, 93 (22%) underwent SLN surgery only, 100 (23%) underwent SLN and ALND, and 237 (55%) underwent ALND only. The use of SLN surgery (±?ALND) increased from 28% in 2009 to 86% in 2017 (p?p?p?p?=?0.001). With short-term follow-up, no nodal recurrences have occurred in patients without ALND.

Conclusions

We observed a significant shift in axillary surgery for cN1 breast cancer patients treated with NAC, with increasing use of SLN surgery to assess nodal treatment response, and decreasing use of ALND.