Abstract P2-01-19: Long-term follow-up of the node-negative breast cancer patients before treatment evaluated with sentinel node biopsy alone following neoadjuvant chemotherapy

BACKGROUND Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) for the node negative breast cancer is standard treatment as an accurate assessment of axillary lymph node status. The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has increased during the past several years. At present, the use of SNB following NAC is controversial. Proponents of SNB after NAC prefer a single surgical procedure with potential for fewer axillary dissections. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to examine SNB evaluation alone following NAC in patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer before treatment and to evaluate the axillary lymph node recurrence for patients undergoing NAC versus patients undergoing surgery first. METHODS A total of 1176 patients with clinically node negative breast cancer underwent SNB from 2007 to 2013. Clinicopathologic and survival data were reviewed and comparisons made between patients receiving NAC and those undergoing surgery first. Lymphatic mapping was performed with both radioactive colloid and blue dye. Patients with negative SN for metastasis were followed without axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Patients with metastases to a SN underwent ALND. RESULTS Of the patients, 180 (15.3%) underwent SNB following NAC and 996 (84.7%) underwent surgery first. SN identification rates were 98.3% in the NAC group and 98.9% in the surgery first group. 152 (84.4%) patients in the NAC group and 877 patients (88.1%) had negative SNs. At median follow-up of 49.2 months, 1 patient (0.007%) in the NAC group and 3 patients (0.003%) in surgery first group had axillary lymph node recurrences. There were not any significant differences between the NAC group and the surgery first group. CONCLUSION The SNB following NAC in patients with node-negative breast cancer has a low axillary recurrence rate and could be acceptable. Citation Format: Hiroko Nogi, Ken Uchida, Makiko Kamio, Kumiko Kato, Yasuo Toriumi, Hiroshi Takeyama. Long-term follow-up of the node-negative breast cancer patients before treatment evaluated with sentinel node biopsy alone following neoadjuvant chemotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-01-19.