Axillary Dissection Can Be Avoided in the Majority of Clinically Node-Negative Patients Undergoing Breast-Conserving Therapy, by Dengel et al.

Excerpt

Since the presentation of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z0011 clinical trial results at the American Surgical Association 2010 meeting and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2011 meeting with subsequent publications in Annals of Surgery and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), breast surgeons around the United States and indeed worldwide have been considering how to incorporate the results of this study into their clinical practice.1,2 Many breast surgeons are now forgoing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in selected patients undergoing breast conservation surgery (BCS) with one or two positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLN). There remains debate about what proportion of the clinical practice is subject to benefit from the Z0011 results. …