Key clinical point: Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) after neoadjuvant systemic therapy was oncologically safe and led to excellent clinical outcomes in patients with node-positive early breast cancer (BC) who did not undergo axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).
Major finding: TAD alone vs TAD plus ALND was not associated with a higher risk for invasive disease-free survival (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.83; P = .69) and overall survival (aHR 1.07; P = .91).
Study details: Findings are from a cohort study including 199 patients with clinical stage T1-T4, node-positive early BC without distant metastases who underwent TAD with (40.2%) or without (59.8%) further axillary surgery.
Disclosures: The clips used to mark the targeted lymph nodes were provided for free by Tumark Vision (SOMATEX) and O-Twist (BIP). The authors declared receiving personal fees, honoraria, research funding, or other nonfinancial supports from various sources.
Source: Kuemmel S et al. Safety of targeted axillary dissection after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with node-positive breast cancer. JAMA Surg. 2023 (Jun 7). doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.1772