Will Axillary Radiotherapy Replace Axillary Dissection in Women with Positive Sentinel Nodes?

For management of early breast cancer, sufficiency of local therapy must be balanced against risk for overtreatment.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has eliminated the need for axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in women with tumor-free sentinel nodes (SNs). For patients with positive SNs, completion ALND has been considered standard for achieving local and regional control. However, the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group trial Z0011, in which investigators randomized women with invasive breast cancer and one or two positive SNs to SLNB with or without ALND, showed no between-group differences in local or regional recurrence, disease-free survival, or overall survival (JW Oncol Hematol Oct 12 2010 and JW Oncol Hematol Feb 9 2011). All patients underwent breast-conserving surgery and received whole-breast radiotherapy; most also received adju…

Reviewing Author

Henry Mark Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS

Disclosures

Speaker's BureauPhysicians’ Education Resource, LLC

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill Professional; UpToDate, Inc.

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Surgical Oncology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Breast Surgeons (Chair, Publications Committee)

Henry Mark Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS

Disclosures

Speaker's BureauPhysicians’ Education Resource, LLC

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill Professional; UpToDate, Inc.

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Surgical Oncology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Breast Surgeons (Chair, Publications Committee)

Will Axillary Radiotherapy Replace Axillary Dissection in Women with Positive Sentinel Nodes?

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Reviewing Author