Axillary lymph node count is lower after neoadjuvant chemotherapy - 19/08/11

Abstract |
Background |
Retrieval of fewer than 10 lymph nodes at axillary dissection (ALND) for breast cancer can represent anatomic variation or inadequate dissection. We postulated that despite aggressive ALND, a lower lymph node count is more frequent after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Methods |
Patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by ALND were compared with patients who received surgery first. All patients received a level I and II ALND at a single institution by one of the breast surgeons. The number of nodes retrieved at ALND was dichotomized into categories (<10 and ≥10), and compared using Fisher exact test.
Results |
A total of 143 neoadjuvant and 170 surgery-first patients were studied. Patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy were significantly more likely to have fewer than 10 lymph nodes retrieved at ALND than were the surgery-first patients (19/143 or 13% vs. 6/170 or 4%, P = .003).
Conclusions |
A low lymph node count is more common in patients after treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and should not be assumed to represent an incomplete ALND.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Breast cancer, Axillary lymph node dissection, Lymph node retrieval, Locally advanced breast cancer
Plan
| Supported by the University of North Carolina Breast Cancer SPORE award from the National Cancer Institute (No. CA 58223). N.K.-D. is a recipient of the Kimmel Scholar Award and the American Society of Clinical Oncology/Breast Cancer Research Foundation Career Development Award. L.A.C. is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health CAP Award (No. M01RR00046). C.I.S. is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health K-08-CA083753. |
Vol 191 - N° 6
P. 827-829 - juin 2006 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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