Article
作者: Stefek, Andrea ; Fucito, Alfredo ; Askoxylakis, Ioannis ; Björkman, Johanna ; Strittmatter, Hans-Joachim ; Kontzoglou, Konstantinos ; Stachs, Angrit ; Brucker, Sara ; Metaxas, George ; Falck, Anna-Karin ; Sackey, Helena ; Bergkvist, Leif ; Wärnberg, Fredrik ; Bonatz, Gabriele ; Alkner, Sara ; Faliakou, Eleni ; Wadsten, Charlotta ; Åhsberg, Kristina ; Soe, Katrine Lydolph ; Schirrmeister, Susen ; Michalopoulos, Nikolaos ; Sigvardsson, Jeanette Liljestrand ; Kaklamanos, Ioannis ; Ohlinger, Ralf ; Nixdorf, Antje ; Eichler, Henning ; Filtenborg, Tove Tvedskov ; Gentilini, Oreste ; Cristofolini, Paolo ; Seldte, Jens-Paul ; Carstensen, Lena ; Renner, Stefan ; Gentilini, Oreste Davide ; Celebioglu, Fuat ; Christiansen, Peer ; Ollig, Stefan ; Norenstedt, Sophie ; Wångblad, Carin ; Sund, Malin ; Starck, Emma ; Polata, Silke ; Müller, Thomas ; Camara, Oumar ; Andersson, Yvette ; Hansen, Lone Bak ; Kühn, Cristin ; Lindwall, Karin Åhlander ; Franzen, Arno ; Gatzweiler, Axel ; Kjaer, Christina ; Erngrund, Maria ; Hahn, Antje ; Hammerle, Caroline ; Galimberti, Viviana ; Bagge, Roger Olofsson ; Fischer, Dorothea ; Szulkin, Robert ; Wedin, Maria ; Wallberg, Michael ; Ledwon, Peter ; Reimer, Toralf ; Nyman, Per ; Poulakaki, Nikiforita ; Keller, Markus ; Fogazzi, Gianluca ; Hoyer, Ute ; Lundstedt, Dan ; Frisell, Jan ; Malterling, Rebecka Ruderfors ; Perez, Sybille ; de Boniface, Jana ; Kühn, Thorsten ; Rydén, Lisa ; Venizelos, Vassilos ; Holsti, Caroline ; Myrskog, Lena ; Svensjö, Tor ; Schwickardi, Gabriele Feisel ; Kontos, Michalis ; Garcia-Etienne, Carlos ; Balling, Eva ; Melnichuk, Liudmila ; Tvedskov, Tove Filtenborg ; Offersen, Birgitte Vrou ; Lindner, Christoph ; Andersen, Inge Scheel ; Handler, Jürgen ; Hausmüller, Stephan ; Patil, Eva Vikhe
BackgroundRandomized trials have shown that axillary clearance (AC) can safely be omitted in patients with sentinel lymph node-positive breast cancer. At the same time, de-escalation of chemotherapy in postmenopausal patients with ER+HER2- breast cancer may depend on detailed axillary nodal stage. The aim of this pre-specified secondary analysis of the SENOMAC trial was to investigate whether the choice of axillary staging affected the proportion of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, and recurrence-free survival (RFS).MethodsProportion receiving adjuvant chemotherapy was calculated according to AC or sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) only, menopausal status, and region of inclusion, for 2168 patients with clinically node-negative ER+HER2- breast cancer and 1-2 sentinel lymph node macrometastases included in the SENOMAC trial.FindingsIn premenopausal patients, 514 out of 615 patients (83.6%) received adjuvant chemotherapy with no significant difference between randomization arms. In postmenopausal patients, the proportion receiving chemotherapy varied considerably by region and country (36.0-82.4%). In Denmark, where 194 out of 539 postmenopausal patients (36.0%) received adjuvant chemotherapy, rates differed significantly between the AC and the SLNB only arm (41.3% vs 31.4%, p = 0.019). After a median follow-up of 44.88 months for Danish postmenopausal patients, no significant difference was seen in 5-year RFS, which was 91% (85.6%-96.6%) for the SLNB only and 90.9% (86.3%-95.6%) for the AC arm (p = 0.42).InterpretationWhen omitting axillary clearance, and thus reducing the risk of long-term arm morbidity, potential under-treatment of postmenopausal patients with ER+HER2- breast cancer may require the development of new predictive and imaging tools.FundingSwedish Research Council, Swedish Cancer Society, Nordic Cancer Union, Swedish Breast Cancer Association.