Exploring Breast Surgeons' Attitudes on Universal Genetic Testing: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The American Society of Breast Surgeons released a consensus statement that genetic testing should be made available to all patients with a personal history of breast cancer. However, it is not clear whether physicians feel comfortable with universal genetic testing (UGT) or if they have sufficient knowledge to interpret results and manage them appropriately. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore breast surgeons' attitudes toward UGT. METHODS: Breast surgeons were consented and scheduled for a semi-structured virtual interview. Transcripts were uploaded into qualitative analysis software where they were exhaustively and iteratively coded. Codes were then organized into higher-order categories and themes and data saturation were assessed. RESULTS: Thirty-one surgeons completed the qualitative interview. Most surgeons practiced in the academic or community setting and most practiced in the Midwest (71.0%). The majority (90.3%) reported having a structured genetics program. The majority (96.8%) referred their patients to genetics for counseling and most preferred ordering testing through a genetic services provider. Some surgeons had concerns about access to genetic services. A minority of surgeons order UGT for all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. The majority of respondents thought that more training in genetics was needed for surgeons. Many surgeons expressed concern about the psychosocial effects of UGT on patients. CONCLUSIONS: Many surgeons expressed concerns about UGT, mainly related to discomfort with their training, access to genetic services, and the psychosocial impact on their patients. Future work is needed to determine how to improve surgeon's comfort level in implementing UGT.

Male Breast Cancer Patient and Surgeon Experience: The Male WhySurg Study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the experience of the male breast cancer patient. Mastectomy is often offered despite evidence that breast-conserving surgery (BCS) provides similar outcomes. METHODS: Two concurrent online surveys were distributed from August to October 2020 via social media to male breast cancer (MBC) patients and by email to American Society of Breast Surgeon members. The MBC patients were asked their opinions about their surgery, and the surgeons were asked to provide surgical recommendations for MBC patients. RESULTS: The survey involved 63 MBC patients with a mean age of 62 years (range, 31-79 years). Five MBC patients (7.9 %) stated that their surgeon recommended BCS, but 54 (85.7 %) of the patients underwent unilateral, and 8 (12.7 %) underwent bilateral mastectomy. Most of the patients (n = 60, 96.8 %) had no reconstruction. One third of the patients (n = 21, 33.3 %) felt somewhat or very uncomfortable with their appearance after surgery. The response rate was 16.5 % for the surgeons. Of the 438 surgeons who answered the survey, 298 (73.3 %) were female, 215 (51.7 %) were fellowship-trained, and 244 (58.9 %) had been practicing for 16 years or longer. More than half of surgeons (n = 259, 59.1 %) routinely offered BCS to eligible men, and 180 (41.3 %) stated they had performed BCS on a man with breast cancer. Whereas 89 (20.8 %) of the surgeons stated that they routinely offer reconstruction to MBC patients, 87 (20.3 %) said they do not offer reconstruction, 96 (22.4 %) said they offer it only if the patient requests it, and 157 (36.6 %) said they never consider it as an option. CONCLUSIONS: The study found discordance between MBC patients' satisfaction with their surgery and surgeon recommendations and experience. These data present an opportunity to optimize the MBC patient experience.

Patient-reported outcomes among women with unilateral breast cancer undergoing breast conservation versus single or double mastectomy.

PURPOSE: More women with unilateral early stage breast cancer are electing bilateral mastectomy (BM). Many cite anxiety, fear of recurrence, and certain aesthetic desires in their decision-making. Yet conflicting data exist regarding how these factors both inform and are modulated by medical decision-making, especially among women eligible for breast conservation (BCT). This study sought to assess the trajectories of women undergoing various surgical procedures for breast cancer. METHODS: We performed a prospective longitudinal study of women with unilateral, non-hereditary breast cancer who underwent BCT, unilateral mastectomy (UM), or BM. Women completed surveys before surgery and at 1, 9, and 15 months postop. Surveys included questions about treatment preferences, decisional control, the HADS-A anxiety scale, the Fear of Relapse/Recurrence Scale (FRRS), and the BREAST-Q. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare outcomes between BCT, UM, and BM groups at each time point. RESULTS: 203 women were recruited and 177 (87.2%) completed 15-month follow-up. Of these, 101 (57.0%) underwent BCT, 33 (18.6%) underwent UM, and 43 (24.2%) underwent BM. Generalized anxiety and FRRS scores were similar between BCT, UM, and BM groups and declined uniformly after surgery. Although baseline breast satisfaction was similar between groups, at 15 months, it was significantly lower in BM patients than in BCT patients. Women who felt "very" confident and "very" informed before surgery had lower anxiety, lower fear of recurrence, better psychosocial well-being (PSWB), and greater breast satisfaction at 15 months. CONCLUSION: While patients who undergo mastectomy have less long-term breast satisfaction, all patients can expect to experience similar improvements in anxiety and PSWB. Efforts should be made to ensure that patients are informed and confident regardless of which surgery is chosen, for this is the greatest predictor of better outcomes.

Covid-19 related oncologist's concerns about breast cancer treatment delays and physician well-being (the CROWN study).

PURPOSE: To examine how treatment delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the physical and emotional well-being of physicians treating these patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of physician breast specialists was posted from April 23rd to June 11th, 2020 on membership list serves and social media platforms of the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers and the American Society of Breast Surgeons. Physician well-being was measured using 6 COVID-19 burnout emotions and the 4-item PROMIS short form for anxiety and sleep disturbance. We examined associations between treatment delays and physician well-being, adjusting for demographic factors, COVID-19 testing and ten COVID-19 pandemic concerns. RESULTS: 870 physicians completed the survey, 61% were surgeons. The mean age of physicians was 52 and 548 (63.9%) were female. 669 (79.4%) reported some delay in patient care as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 384 (44.1%) and 529 (60.8%) of physicians scored outside normal limits for anxiety and sleep disturbance, respectively. After adjusting for demographic factors and COVID-19 testing, mean anxiety and COVID-19 burnout scores were significantly higher among physicians whose patients experienced either delays in surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation, breast imaging or specialty consultation. A multivariable model adjusting for ten physician COVID-19 concerns and delays showed that "delays will impact my emotional well-being" was the strongest concern associated with anxiety, sleep disturbance and COVID-19 burnout factors. CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer treatment delays during the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States were associated with a negative impact on physician emotional wellness.

Improving the Breast Surgeon's Ergonomic Workload for Nipple-Sparing Mastectomies Using Exercise and Operating Room Positioning Protocol.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine whether an exercise program and standardized operating room positioning protocol (EOPP) would improve surgeon muscle workload and/or surgeon perception of mental/physical workload for nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM). METHODS: This prospective study analyzed muscle workload by EMG of four surgeons performing NSM before and after an EOPP. Surveys were administered assessing surgeon perception of mental/physical workload. EMG data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA, controlling for surgeon, first assistant, duration and difficulty of procedure, left or right side, and sequence of the procedure. RESULTS: A total of 56 NSM cases performed by 3 surgeons were analyzed. One surgeon was excluded because of muscle injury and undergoing active physical therapy during the study period. After implementation of the EOPP, the left (P = 0.005) and right (P = 0.020) upper trapezii muscles had a significant decrease in overall ergonomic workload but there was no significant change in overall ergonomic workload for the bilateral cervical erector spinae, anterior deltoid, and lumbar erector spinae muscle groups. When analyzing muscle group exertion by surgeon, there was significant variability in all muscles except the left cervical erector spinae. Following the EOPP, surgeons reported that the procedures were more physically (P = 0.01) and mentally (P = 0.002) demanding and visualization (P = 0.04) was worse. The breast laterality and sequence did not affect muscle exertion. CONCLUSIONS: An EOPP decreased the overall ergonomic workload of one muscle group for surgeons performing NSM but did not impact surgeon perception of mental/physical workload. Further investigation is needed to improve surgeon ergonomics.

Patients Undergoing Bilateral Mastectomy and Breast-Conserving Surgery Have the Lowest Levels of Regret: The WhySurg Study.

BACKGROUND: The recent data on decision regret of patients undergoing breast cancer surgery are sparse. METHODS: An electronic cross-sectional survey was distributed to Love Research Army volunteers ages 18-70 years who underwent breast cancer surgery from 2009 to 2020. Decision regret scores were compared among patients who underwent bilateral mastectomy (BM), unilateral mastectomy (UM), breast-conserving surgery (BCS), and BCS first (BCS followed by re-excision or mastectomy) and between procedures during different time periods. Multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for patient and tumor factors, was used to determine whether surgery type was associated with a regret score in the highest quartile range. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 2148 women, 1525 (71.0%) of whom reported their surgery choice and answered all questions on the regret scale. The mean age of the participants was 50 years, and the median year of surgery was 2014. The median decision regret score for all the patients was 5 (interquartile range [IQR], 0-20) on a 100-point scale. The regret score of 342 participants (22.4%) was 25 or higher (BCS, 20.2%; BCS first, 31.9%; UM, 30.8%; BM, 15.4%; p < 0.001). In the multivariable analysis, BM was associated with less regret than UM (odds ratio [OR], 0.40 (range, 0.27-0.58); p < 0.001), BCS (OR, 0.56 (range, 0.38-0.83; p = 0.003), or BCS first (OR, 0.32; range, 0.21-0.49; p < 0.001). During the three periods analyzed (2009-2012, 2013-2016, and 2017-2020), the BM and BCS patients had the lowest regret scores of all the surgical types. CONCLUSIONS: Decision regret was low among the patients undergoing breast cancer surgery but lowest among the BM patients after adjustment for clinical and tumor factors including complications.

The modern approach to the nipple-sparing mastectomy.

A modern perspective on the nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) looking at current indications as well as the most up-to-date evidence both in the literature and from our institution. There is an in-depth description of our NSM technique and an overview of alternative approaches, including the robotic technique. The complicated concept of the learning curve is addressed and ideas on how to train other NSM adopters.

Are we Overtreating Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy? Role of OncotypeDx® for Hormone Receptor Positive Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The utilization of OncotypeDx in the setting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) is not well defined. The objective of this study was to determine what proportion of hormone receptor (HR)-positive patients undergoing NCT would not benefit from chemotherapy based on OncotypeDx recurrence scores (RS) and predictors of a high RS as defined by the TAILORx trial. METHODS: The National Cancer Data Base was used to identify patients with unilateral clinical stage I-III HR+/Her2- breast cancer who had an OncotypeDx score and who had undergone NCT. Patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy were used as a comparison group. RESULTS: Of 307,666 patients, 41.8% had testing with OncotypeDx. Of these, 76.6% had no chemotherapy, 22.3% adjuvant chemotherapy, and 1.1% NCT. OncotypeDx testing in NCT patients increased from 4.9% in 2010 to 8.2% in 2015. Of NCT patients with OncotypeDx testing, 11.6% had RS < 11, 44.4% RS 11-25, and 43.9% RS > 25. In patients age ≤ 50 years, 14.5% had RS < 11, 12.4% RS 11-15, 31.4% RS 16-25, and 41.7% RS > 25. Predictors of RS > 25 on multivariable analysis included grade 3 tumors (odds ratio [OR] 3.83) and PR-negative tumors (OR 5.26) but not clinical T or N stage (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: More than half of patients with OncotypeDx testing are being overtreated with NCT, and a third of younger patients are being overtreated. Predictors of a high RS are reliably available at core biopsy, suggesting an application of OncotypeDx in determining the need for NCT for some HR-positive breast cancers.

An In-Visit Decision Aid for Surgeons to Address Decision Making for Bilateral Mastectomy for Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Few decision aids for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients are used by surgeons during their consultations with patients. METHODS: From 2017 to 2019, an online interactive breast cancer in-visit decision aid (BIDA) was used on 63 patients and 57 patients underwent usual care (UC). We compared knowledge, decision involvement, anxiety and distress (HADS scale), quality of life (PROMIS), fear of recurrence, body image, and patient values between BIDA and UC before surgery. A knowledge score of ≥ 57% was considered "high knowledge." RESULTS: A total of 188 patients were enrolled of which 120 (63.8%) completed all study procedures. Patient demographic characteristics and anxiety and quality of life (QOL) at baseline were similar between patients in BIDA and UC cohorts. After seeing the surgeon, patients in the BIDA group had higher composite knowledge scores compared with UC patients [n = 55 (87.3%) vs. n = 39 (68.4%) respectively, p = 0.012]. Patients in the BIDA cohort reported being asked more often their surgical preference (p = 0.013) and discussing bilateral mastectomy (BM) as an option (p = 0.048). There was a trend of less patients in the BIDA cohort undergoing BM then in the UC cohort [10 (15.9%) vs. 14 (24.6%), p = 0.49]. Anxiety and distress, QOL, fear of recurrence, and body image were not significantly different between BIDA and UC cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: A decision aid used by surgeons during their consultation was associated with higher knowledge levels, patients reporting more discussion about BM, and a trend of lower BMs. A larger study with more patients is needed to confirm this finding.

The "Nipple Whipple"?! A Pilot Study to Assess the Ergonomic Effects of Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy.

BACKGROUND: Nipple-sparing mastectomies (NSMs) with reconstruction are believed to be more difficult to perform than skin-sparing mastectomies (SSMs), but there is little quantitative data to support this claim. METHODS: This prospective study analyzed four surgeons performing mastectomies. Electromyography (EMG) electrodes placed on selected muscle groups on each surgeon were used to capture muscle exertion intraoperatively and a percentage of maximum voluntary exertion was calculated (%MVE). Data regarding surgeon demographics, exercise habits, musculoskeletal problems, and surgery-specific workload was collected using a questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 61 mastectomies were analyzed; 40 were NSM and 21 were SSM/total mastectomies. NSM were considered to be more mentally demanding and physically demanding than SSM (p < 0.001). When the surgeons' EMG data was analyzed as a group, there was a statistically significant difference in %MVE for NSM versus SSM at high muscle activity in bilateral anterior deltoid muscle groups and at average muscle activity for the left anterior deltoid muscle only. At low muscle activity, there was a statistically significant increase in activation for SSM versus NSM in bilateral cervical erector spinae. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed, which showed statistically significant differences at high muscle activity between NSM and SSM in the left cervical erector spinae and bilateral anterior deltoid muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Our pilot study shows that intraoperative EMGs can assess muscle activity for mastectomy operations and show a difference between NSM and SSM. This is the first study to provide quantitative data on muscle strain with NSM.

Axillary Surgery for Early-Stage, Node-Positive Mastectomy Patients and the Use of Postmastectomy Chest Wall Radiation Therapy.

BACKGROUND: We examined axillary surgery in mastectomy patients with tumor-positive nodes and how the type of axillary surgery impacted use of postmastectomy chest wall radiation therapy (PMRT). METHODS: Using the National Cancer Data Base, we selected patients with AJCC cT1/T2c N0 breast cancer with one to three tumor-positive lymph nodes treated between 2013 and 2014. Type of axillary surgery was analyzed using the FORDS scope of regional lymph node surgery variable. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to identify independent predictors associated with SNB alone and the use of PMRT. RESULTS: Of 8089 patients, 2482 (30.7%) underwent SNB alone, 1339 (16.6%) underwent axillary dissection (ALND) alone, and 4268 (52.7%) underwent SNB followed by ALND. Fifty-seven percent of patients with micrometastases underwent SNB alone compared with 22.6% of patients with macrometastases. Independent predictors of SNB alone for patients with micrometastases were African American race, number of nodes positive, and PMRT. For patients with macrometastases, age, facility type and location, and PMRT were independent predictors for SNB alone. Of 2449 patients who underwent SNB alone, 1538 (62.8%) had no PMRT, 261 (10.7%) had PMRT alone, and 650 (26.5%) had PMRT with regional nodal irradiation. Patients undergoing SNB alone were 1.70 times [96% confidence interval (CI) 1.45-2.00] more likely to undergo PMRT than upfront ALND and 1.51 times (96% CI 1.34-1.71) more likely than SNB followed by ALND. CONCLUSIONS: Surgeons are omitting completion ALND in a third of early-stage, node-positive mastectomy patients. SNB alone patients are more likely to undergo PMRT than patients undergoing ALND.

Estimating the OncotypeDX score: validation of an inexpensive estimation tool.

BACKGROUND: OncotypeDX, a multi-gene expression assay, has been incorporated into clinical practice as a prognostic and predictive tool. However, its use in resource-constrained international healthcare systems is limited. Here we develop and validate a simplified model using clinicopathologic criteria to predict OncotypeDX score. METHODS: Patients with estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR)-positive and HER2-negative invasive ductal carcinoma for whom the OncotypeDX test was successfully performed between 09/2008 and 12/2011 were retrospectively identified. Tumor size, nuclear and histologic grade, lymphovascular invasion, and ER and PR status were extracted from pathology reports. Data were split into a training dataset comprising women tested 09/2008-04/2011, and a validation dataset comprising women tested 04/2011-12/2011. Using the training dataset, linear regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with OncotypeDX score, and to create a simplified risk score and identify risk cutoffs. RESULTS: Estrogen and progesterone receptors, tumor size, nuclear and histologic grades, and lymphovascular involvement were independently associated with OncotypeDX. The full model explained 39% of the variation in the test data, and the simplified risk score and cutoffs assigned 57% of patients in the test data to the correct risk category (OncotypeDX score <18, 18-30, >30). 41% of patients were predicted to have OncotypeDX score <18, of these 83, 16, and 2% had true scores of <18, 18-30, and >30, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Awaiting an inexpensive test that is prognostic and predictive, our simplified tool allows clinicians to identify a fairly large group of patients (41%) with very low chance of having high-risk disease (2%).

A Single Institution Retrospective Comparison Study of Locoregional Recurrence After Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Using External Beam Fractionation Compared with Whole Breast Irradiation with 8 Years of Follow-Up.

BACKGROUND: Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) was developed to address disadvantages of overall treatment time and potentially unnecessary radiation associated with whole breast irradiation (WBI). We report updated results of our single institution study using an external beam APBI regimen with a median follow-up of 8 years. METHODS: A total of 290 APBI patients with AJCC Stage 0-II breast cancer were compared with 290 WBI patients with matched tumor characteristics. Toxicities were scored based on the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v3.0). Cox regression models were used to predict likelihood of freedom from ipsilateral failure. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 8 years in the APBI group and 7.5 years in the WBI group. In the APBI group, there were 18 (6.2%) ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR), 13 (72%) had elsewhere failures (EF), and 5 (28%) had local failures (LF) with a median time to failure of 64.1 months. In the WBI group, there were three (1.0%) IBTR; one (33%) was an EF and two (67%) were LF with a median time to failure of 91 months. APBI was 4.6 times more likely (hazard ratio 4.57, 95% confidence interval 1.3-16.2, p = 0.02) to have an IBTR than WBI after adjusting for age, tumor size, histology, grade, and estrogen receptor status. Fatigue, erythema, and desquamation toxicities were significantly less in the APBI group then the WBI group. CONCLUSIONS: IBTR rates were higher in external beam APBI group compared with WBI, but APBI had fewer toxicities. Clinicians must weigh the risks and benefits of APBI when making a recommendation for partial breast irradiation after lumpectomy.

Impact of an In-visit Decision Aid on Patient Knowledge about Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Studies have reported that breast cancer patients have limited understanding about the oncologic outcomes following contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM). We hypothesized that an in-visit decision aid (DA) would be associated with higher patient knowledge about the anticipated short and long term outcomes of CPM. METHODS: We piloted a DA which used the SCOPED: (Situation, Choices, Objectives, People, Evaluation and Decision) framework. Knowledge, dichotomized as "low" (≤3 correct) versus "high" (≥4 correct), was assessed immediately after the visit by a 5 item survey. There were 97 DA patients (response rate 62.2 %) and 114 usual care (UC) patients (response rate 71.3 %). RESULTS: Patient demographic factors were similar between the two groups. Twenty-one (21.7 %) patients in the DA group underwent CPM compared with 18 (15.8 %) in the UC group (p = 0.22). Mean and median knowledge levels were significantly higher in the DA group compared with the UC group for patients of all ages, tumor stage, race, family history, anxiety levels, worry about CBC, and surgery type. Eighty-six (78.9 %) of UC versus 35 (37.9 %) DA patients had low knowledge. Of patients who underwent CPM, 15 (83.3 %) in the UC cohort versus 5 (25.0 %) of DA patients had "low" knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge was higher in the DA group. The UC group had approximately three times the number of patients of the DA group who were at risk for making a poorly informed decision to have CPM. Future studies should assess the impact of increased knowledge on overall CPM rates.

Post-mastectomy radiation therapy and overall survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The role of postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and mastectomy is unclear, especially in patients that have post-treatment tumor negative axillary nodes (ypN0). METHODS: The National Cancer Data Base was used to identify women that had PMRT after NAC and mastectomy for clinically node positive (cN1-2) disease from 2004 to 2008. Median follow-up time was 69 months. RESULTS: 8,321 patients were included for analysis, and 6140 (65.6%) had cN1 disease and 2181 (23.3%) had cN2 disease. On adjusted survival analysis, PMRT was associated with an overall survival (OS) benefit in both patients with cN1 (5-yr OS 75.8% vs. 71.9%, P < 0.01) and cN2 (5-yr OS 69.2% vs. 58.6%, P < 0.01) disease. In the subgroup of patients that were ypN0 after NAC, there was no significant survival difference (P > 0.11) for PMRT compared to those patients who were not ypN0, except for patients with hormone-receptor negative tumors, who had improved OS with PMRT (HR 0.65, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: PMRT is associated with improved OS in patients with cN1 and cN2 disease after NAC and mastectomy. However, in the subgroup of patients that were ypN0 after NAC, PMRT improved OS for hormone-receptor negative patients but not hormone-receptor positive patients.

Clinical accuracy of preoperative breast MRI for breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear if breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is more accurate than mammography (MGM) and ultrasound (U/S) in aggregate for patients with invasive cancer. METHODS: We compared concordance of combined tumor size and tumor foci between MRI and MGM and U/S combined to pathological tumor size and foci as the gold standard from 2009 to 2015. Tumor size was nonconcordant if it differed from the pathologic size by ≥33% and tumor foci was nonconcordant if >1 foci were seen. If one or both of the MGM or U/S was nonconcordant and the MRI was concordant, MRI provided greater accuracy. RESULTS: Of 471 patients with MGM, US, and MRI, MRI was more accurate for 32.9% of patients for tumor size and for 21.9% for tumor foci. Patients for whom MRI had greater accuracy were compared to those who did not for clinical and tumor factors. The only significant factor was calcifications on mammography. Tumor size, stage, molecular subtype, histology, grade, patient BMI, age, mammographic density, and use of hormone replacement therapy were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Breast MRI provides greater accuracy for a third of patients undergoing preoperative MGM and U/S. Mammographic calcifications were associated with MRI clinical accuracy for patients with invasive cancer.

Are the ACOSOG Z0011 Trial Findings Being Applied to Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy?

In 2010, the ACOSOG Z0011 trial showed equivalent survival and recurrence between sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone versus axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for those with a tumor positive sentinel node (SN). We examined national trends in axillary surgery following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for clinically node positive disease in the years prior to and after the Z0011 trial publication. 12,063 women with cT1-4N1M0 invasive breast cancer who underwent NAC from 2006 to 2013 and had 1-3 positive nodes on pathology were selected from the National Cancer Data Base. We defined SLNB as 1-4 nodes and ALND as ≥10 nodes examined. 2,704 women (22.4%) underwent SLNB alone and 9,359 (77.6%) underwent ALND. The rate of SLNB increased from 25.6% in 2006 to 33.3% in 2012 in patients that underwent lumpectomy (p < 0.01) and increased from 20.6% to 22.8% in patients that underwent mastectomy (p = 0.25). Patients treated at Community centers (30.4% versus 19.2% at Academic centers) and those with less positive nodes (32.2% for 1 positive node versus 10.1% for 3 positive nodes, p < 0.01) were more likely to have SLNB alone compared to ALND. On multivariate analysis, treatment with lumpectomy (OR 1.46, CI 1.28-1.67), lower number of positive nodes (OR 3.98, CI 3.29-4.82) and lobular subtype (OR 1.82, CI 1.42-2.34) were independent predictors of receiving SLNB alone after NAC. Approximately 22% of patients with cN1 breast cancer underwent SLNB alone for pN1 disease after NAC. Ongoing clinical trials will determine if recurrence and survival rates are equivalent between SLNB and ALND groups.

The need for lymph node dissection in nonmetastatic breast cancer.

Determining whether cancer has spread to locoregional lymph nodes is a critical step in the initial staging of breast cancer patients. Although axillary dissection reliably identifies nodal metastases and prevents the recurrence of cancer in the axilla, there is a significant incidence of long-term side effects, notably lymphedema, and the procedure is of no therapeutic benefit in women without axillary metastases. With the advent of sentinel lymph node biopsy, the axilla can be accurately staged in patients with T1-T3, clinically node-negative breast cancers while avoiding the morbidity of axillary lymph node dissection if the nodes do not contain cancer. Recent clinical trials suggest that for women with metastases to 1 or 2 sentinel nodes, the radiation and systemic therapy that are part of modern multimodality breast cancer treatment can replace axillary dissection when breast-conserving therapy is undertaken. For those with greater disease burden or those undergoing mastectomy, axillary dissection remains standard management.