PubMed · 16720159
Axillary lymph node count is lower after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
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 > or = 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.
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Heather Neuman, Lisa A Carey, David W Ollila, Chad Livasy, Benjamin F Calvo, Anthony A Meyer, Hong Jin Kim, Michael O Meyers, E Claire Dees, Fran A Collichio, Carolyn I Sartor, Dominic T Moore, Lynda R Sawyer, Jill Frank, Nancy Klauber-DeMore. 2006. Axillary lymph node count is lower after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2005.08.041
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