Annals of surgical oncology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Complete axillary lymph node dissection versus clinical follow-up in breast cancer patients with sentinel node micrometastasis: final results from the multicenter clinical trial AATRM 048/13/2000.
It has been suggested that selective sentinel node (SN) biopsy alone can be used to manage early breast cancer, but definite evidence to support this notion is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate whether refraining from completion axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) suffices to produce the same prognostic information and disease control as proceeding with completion ALND in early breast cancer patients showing micrometastasis at SN biopsy. ⋯ Our results strongly suggest that in early breast cancer patients with SN micrometastasis, selective SN lymphadenectomy suffices to control locoregional and distant disease, with no significant effects on survival.