Predicting Extensive Nodal Disease in Women With Breast Cancer

Excerpt

Although none of us has a crystal ball, the ability to predict outcomes on the basis of clinicopathologic factors is critical in guiding treatment decisions. Such predictive models, often statistically based, are finding widespread acceptance and utility in medicine, particularly in breast cancer management. Models have been used to predict outcomes with various types of chemotherapy1 and to predict the presence of nonsentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer patients with a positive sentinel lymph node.2 In this issue of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Rivers et al.3 further this fine work by discussing the features associated with having four or more positive axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer patients with at least one positive sentinel node. …